‘I Pray It’s Not Too Late’ and Other Poetry by Mark A. Sautter

I Pray It’s Not Too Late

I’ve walked in the eye of a hurricane
Safe between its walls of rain
And when the winds swept in again
I stood alone in awe

I’ve beheld forever in the sea
Her gentle waves that called to me
The world beneath so wild and free
And in my mind I saw

The calm within the peaceful wood
Where long the trees have proudly stood
My eyes were new and saw the good
And beauty of the Earth

The majesty of mountains high
The meeting place of Earth and sky
Where right before your very eye
Our planet’s giving birth

But now men claim to own the trees
They build their walls to tame the seas
They level mountains as they please
I dread our concrete fate

The trees replaced by shopping malls
The creeping death of urban sprawl
Earth’s beauty stolen from us all
I pray it’s not too late

What is Nothing?
 
“No” is a prefix
That forms a new word
And that word is confusing
Whenever it’s heard

No-thing is some-thing
As soon as it’s named
And no-one is someone
And so can’t be blamed

“Some” is a prefix
That’s a bit tricky too
Though no-thing is some-thing
The reverse isn’t true

Though the rules of our language
Are too many to list
Places like “no-where”
Don’t really exist

No-one is someone
And some-one, it’s true
Could be anybody
It might even be you

No-where is some-where
Some-where’s a big place
It holds everything
Found on Earth and in space

No-thing is some-thing
No-one could be me
No-where is some-where
In a place we can’t see

Mark A. Sautter is a geologist and poet living in Fort Myers, Florida.

Featured Image: Pittsburgh from the Salt Works at Saw Mill, by William T. Russell, 1843.