MY LAWN WAS A TALLGRASS PRAIRIE
by Harry Carr
Occupying this east-central Illinois lawn is an embarrassment.
It used to be a grand prairie,
With stems and leaves rising toward the sky, ten feet tall,
Roots burrowing into the subsoil, ten feet below.
Hundreds of diverse plants orchestrated their blooming symphony,
Colors changing throughout the year.
Every square inch teaming with varied life forms.
We had not appreciated its richness.
Water moved through the prairie slowly,
Cycling from deep in the soggy sod.
Transpiring through the stems and leaves,
A mist hung over the top of the tall grasses.
The air was ten degrees cooler then.
Nature's air conditioning was at work.
The midday heat absorbing more moisture,
The evening coolness condensing it in dew.
Topsoil was six feet thick then,
Plants breathing in carbon dioxide,
Transmuted carbon down into the soil,
Emitting oxygen as their waste product.
Having evolved with these plants,
The fauna were in concert also.
Herbivorous insects did abound,
Becoming food for the many songbirds.
Then along came a "Two-legged" charismatic mega fauna,
His superior mental faculty enabled him to see a "better" way.
Turning the sod upside down, bringing us to this gray day,
Now less than one tenth of one percent of the tall grass prairie remains.
My lawn might as well be artificial turf,
Rising all of three inches above ground and burrowing three inches below.
The carbon it cannot re-cycle warms the planet.
The water it cannot re-cycle evaporates and leads to desert.
In grooming forty million acres of these lawns nationally,
We spill seventeen million gallons, (seven million gallons more than Exxon Valdez)
While consuming eight hundred million gallons of fuel.
Spewing out seven percent of our total air pollutants.
Contrary to what may otherwise be observed,
This "two legged" charismatic mega fauna is part of the natural world.
He is subject to the terms and conditions of the planet upon which he occupies.
Survival requires the observance and following of Natural Law.
Natural Law allows not the corruption of the natural world.
Survival of the fittest lasts only as long as their food and habitat.
Diversity is the parity of all of life's organisms,
Manifesting in transcendent synergy.
