When we rose from the stasis of our species’ sleep,
She was our terror: nighttime noise, suspicious breeze.

When we wrangled the land into neat plots and squares,
She was our burden: cold, ruin, hunger, disease.

When we harnessed her blood, black, and her bones, black too,
She was our spoils: oil rigs, smokestacks, slick factories.

Now, we bore of survival and set fires for sport,
Orphaning ourselves, swallowing the rising seas.