Saluja Moktan
Look at our world!
We fight and divide.
Ego, pride and jealous hearts
stealing joy from our lives.
We act out of greed,
claiming “it’s mine”,
with hands that take
but never give in kind.
We’re blind to the pain,
deaf to each other,
flames rising,
bombs fall like rain.
Hearts break, families fall apart,
no mercy, no love.
We chase our selfish desires.
We don’t hesitate to summon disaster.
We clean our homes,
light candles for peace
inside our doors,
then step outside to ruin,
Still-
She tolerates us.
Even as we slash her skin,
cut her deep, burn her alive.
we break her bones.
We tear her apart.
We poison her veins.
We hollow her heart.
We destroy her again and again.
She tolerates every wound,
every act of betrayal we carve against her.
Still…she breaths.
Still…she holds on.
But what if one day she can’t?
What if the weight we lay on her
crushes her breath, breaks her will,
and she begins to fade?
What if our greed
makes her too weak to rise,
too tired to give,
too broken to forgive?
What if storms come
not to cleanse,
but to grieve?
What if her silence becomes absence?
What if she stops her breath,
and her pulse beneath our feet?
And nothing left
but the echoes of all we destroyed?
And what if the earth turns dust,
the land of forgotten and dry,
the tired sun dims
in a weary sky?
What if the rivers forget to flow,
and the oceans shrink
into silence below?
What if the forest withers into desert,
Its’ green heart cracked and gone?
Then tell me-
What will you do
with your ego and pride
your greed and selfishness,
and all the wealth you hoarded?
When nothing listens,
and nothing grows,
when all you claimed to own is lost,
what will you hold?
What if the air turns poisonous,
each breath a burden?
What if the wind
burns hotter than fire,
scorching our skin
with every gust?
What if the air
turns colder than frozen stone-
cold enough to stop the heart?
And what if-
the darkness wraps the world in sorrow,
the stars blink out, one by one,
and the universe begins to collapse
into silence?
Have you ever thought
about the consequences waiting in the silence?
Have you ever looked within
and questioned yourself-
What part I play in this unfolding disaster?
Have you ever thought
about the places she holds-
the roots of our history,
the cradle for those yet to come?
Have you ever paused
to honor the soil-
the soil that remembers us,
Even when we forget her?
If you haven’t, then start now.
Spare a moment, spare your heart,
to care for our mother-
the Mother Earth.
Pray for her, stand for her,
Act with love, act with care.
not someday, not tomorrow,
not even today but right now.
Yes, right now.
But-
to do this,
we must begin within.
Take a moment to breath.
Reflect on yourself with honesty and care.
Start clearing the clutter of the mind,
Let go of ego, wash away pride,
greed and selfishness.
Reuse the good you’ve done,
the kindness you’ve shown,
the love you’ve given and received.
cleanse your mind.
Act with purpose with urgency,
to save the earth.
Reduce negativity,
Reuse positivity,
And cleanse the mind and heart—
to help protect Mother Earth.
Only then we can begin again—
to heal,
to honor
our only home:
Mother Earth.
(Saluja Moktan is the author of the children’s book Mother Yeti: The Guardian of Mount Everest and the bilingual book Shubharatri / Good Night.)
