Dominion

If we asked polar bears and seals
For their advice,
They would recommend we
Save the ice.

The arctic tundra the Yukon River
Flows in,
The arctic fox would say works better
Frozen.

Efts, newts, salamanders, snakes,
And frogs,
Consulted, would no doubt champion swamps
And bogs.

Polluted streams and rivers, dammed
And failing,
Might have been better run by trout
And grayling.

Ducks and herons would restore wetlands
If they could,
Bear, buffalo, and deer, the prairie
And the wood.

Angelfish, anemone, and coral
Would protect the reef,
Bees and caterpillars, each flower
And leaf.

And gentle, silver-back gorillas wait
And hope
To save a little cover on their
Mountain slope.

"Save paradise!" they'd all have pled, had we sought
Their opinion,
And surely would have done themselves
Had they dominion.