"Australia 1970" by Judith Wright (abridged)

I love this poem by Judith Wright. It is as relevant today as it was when it was written decades ago. While humans may exploit the environment wilfully, nature has a way of bringing humans back into check.

Die, wild country, like the eaglehawk,
dangerous till the last breath’s gone,
clawing and striking. Die
cursing your raptor through a raging eye.

Die like the soldier-ant,
Mindless and faithful to your million years.
Though we corrupt you with our torturing mind,
stay obstinate; stay blind.

I praise the scouring drought, the flying dust,
the drying creek, the furious animal,
that they oppose us still;
that we are ruined by the thing we kill.

The problem with "environmentalists"

I am reading Tim O’Riordan’s 1981 ‘Environmentalism’. He has the following extract in place of a dedication …

They tell a story of a man who asked a socially conscious friend: “If you had two houses, what would you do with them?”
“Keep one and give the other to the State”, the friend replied.
“If you had two cows what would you do with them?”, the first man asked.
“Keep one and give the other to the State”, the friend replied.
“If you had two chickens, what would you do with them?”, the first man persisted.
“Keep them both”, the friend replied.
“Why?”, the first man asked.
“Because I have two chickens”, the friend replied.