Wild Coast
Veli Mnisi

The melting came first and the fire second,

And as the Earth burned, the red clouds sat perched in the unbreathable sky like a floating field of dandelions aflame.

Standing in a line the heads of state declared “together for our planet,” while the old bridges decayed into old stones.

The thawing came first and the flood second

And then followed slick creatures from the deep, creeping up the Wild Coast.

Those hapless children, the sands and Shells giving in to a seismic survey.

When will they know that their home-beach is to be erased from the maps?

The rising came first and the falling second,

And where want cried some, excess begged all.

Certainly, progress might have been served better in moderation, but when did the men of money ever seem moderate to you? When will they relent?

The exhale came first, and with it, “what is this world coming to?”

There was no inhale – we’d run out of time.