Lost Life Forests Leave River Stream Log Echoes Poem by Terence George Craddock

ancient pristine forests of primeval America
are axed burned destruction trees are ghost gone
forest species hunted to relentless mass extinction

extinct vast numbers of incredible species gone
in history tide migration faced ill-fated cut down
burned off destruction the trees were ghost gone

but small rivers streams still maintained fish stocks
with remnant trees a few along river banks centuries
old trees still littering stream beds these trees were

important parts of ecosystem providing still stretches
of water with rushing rapids protecting bends twists
in rivers streams stops erosion allows last fish species

including prize salmon trout to breed in gravel stone
river stream beds water flows is still river stream water
movement alive but greed men came again realized

large amounts of profit profit good timber lay waiting
in small river stream beds logs were lifted from water
guardian places taken away storm floods snow melt now

scoured scarred river stream beds without log trees
protecting corners bends floods tore out corner sections
entire sections of small river stream banks dirt mud

choked up gravel stone river stream beds fish could not
lay eggs in dirty mud bottoms small rivers streams were
choked life waters ran desolate dead slow stagnant without

oxygenated waters the last great environmental land
rape genocide of nature was now complete humanity
had still learned nothing no lessons of life important
ecosystems biodiversity sacred had not been learned