Parched soul

 Nourished lips and parched soul

I didn’t open my hand, as I was holding tight to the remnants of the pearls, left after the earth had torn itself apart 

to nourish my body, my soul, my core. 

And I kept my eyes tight shut too, as I didn’t want to see the devastation  

I had wrought on everything,

that I had taken to make my food, my bed, my shelter.

I didn’t open my lips even to whisper, let alone shout my disagreement, my discomfort, 

when it was all being consumed by our collective greed and hunger for more and more.

I kept my heart insulated in the acid of greed, selfishness, in a jar of me, above everything, 

everything that I had devoured to feed my ego, my insatiable thirst. 

And suddenly like sand, 

time, and life slipped out of my fist and 

I was left 

empty handed, 

alone on a barren land, 

on the side of a poisoned river, 

looking up at the leafless trees

under the canopy of rainless clouds.

It was eerily silent all around, 

and with no one to hear, 

finally, I whispered 

"I’m sorry!"