Adapted from a tumblr post by headspace-hotel

do you know what has been taken?
do you know what has been lost?
let me say, I have been shaken
by what our concrete life has cost

some fireflies light up in blue
and insects come in thousand cloths
of every pattern, every hue
do you know about the moths?

with names like "black-etched prominent"
"small mossy glyph" and "purple fairy"
(I say this as a compliment)
the nomenclature: legendary

the moth that feeds on lichen: do you know it?
or do you know the shimmering blue-green bees?
and if you know a child, can you show it
a rainbow-colored dogbane beetle, please?

your trees and stones should host all sorts of moss
your streams be full of newts and frogs and fishes
that they are not: an unimaginable loss
there's so much life! and much of it delicious!

there's species native to some tiny spot of land
that only here, in this one space they thrive
I want do show you, take you by the hand
say: this exists! it's real! and it's alive!

if you have not been out in nature, then you missed it
much of it you will not find on websites listed
I only know from observation, being interested
each day I see a new plant that I didn't know existed!

I'd name them all - yes, every single one - if just I could
there's trees - obscure, but not that rare - you might have never seen
sourwood, kentucky coffeetree, striped maple, yellowwood
ninebark, rusty blackhaw, or the hophornbeam

you know the purple coneflower, the prairie blazing star
yet there are countless others just as nice, but of less fame
it's hard to overstate just oh, how many plants there are
for which what's now suburbian waste is from where they came

you'll never know what's native to the place you call your home
because our homes (comparatively) are so barren, razed and dead
and there we have no reason to suspect that when we roam
ten thousand wondrous living things are everywhere instead

it's like a fish that all its life has lived inside a bucket
imagine the expanse of ocean: it can not, not ever
the insects in your field guide: they are just a fraction! tuck it
away and go, experience them all, out in the weather!

more things are real than any single person can imagine
the world's with critters, mushrooms, beetles, grasses rife
tread carefully! treat it with kindness and compassion
welcome to earth! it's beautiful! it's full of life!

Dear Madam/Sir, neighborly techno-connoisseur
on behalf of the insomnia that I incur:

I want for little, and of that less yet from you
but my repose is threatened by that thing you do
I keep odd hours, you should know,
and when I rest - then there you go:
the bangs and booms and thuds and thumps and such
- not loud, nor late, nor constant, just: too much
obnoxiously, pervasive, monotone
I wish I had a megaphone

I'd roar my dirge into the walls, into the street
a sigh, a cry, a howl, a caterwaul per beat
it might become - as duet - music yet
it might not. You might take me to abet
the noise, the bass that numbs the brain
unts, unts, unts, unts - drives me insane
can't sleep, can't think, can't persevere
aren't you aware neighbours can hear?

night time, admittedly, you (mostly) do respect
but better music does exist, last time I checked
is it not dull, if every single song
has just three notes: ding, dang and dong
and every track repeats forever and then some
is that not - pardon me - completely fucking dumb?
Best wishes, and I'm begging on my knees:
will you play some metal, pretty please?

(translation from German)

wherever there is reason, there is reasonable doubt
if that which had been reasoned has been well thought out
so that, where these ideas are growing, only those will sprout
that serve their own conceiver's epistemic clout

doubt casts its judgement on the pond'rous plants of mind
so that those it finds wanting may be left behind
their threads unravelling to form the wond'rous, other kind
from weeds to grow what doubt to spare yet is inclined

and yet, this habit may not tend the garden well
if, overeager, it begins ideas of hope to quell
"Good things exist." "It will get better." - to the trial!

the lies of healthy minds might fall under its spell
lies keep us sane. without, we don't fare well
"Do I deserve this?" "Am I good?" - this doubt is vile!

I have a dog
his name is chuck
he licks his bowl
but out of luck
looks sadly through
cataract fog
so I relent
I walk the dog

I walk the dog
I go outside
I go by day
I go by night
he eats his poo
he eats my sock
but still I go
and walk the dog

The dog is old
a broken thing
he makes me wish
his neck to wring
he stumbles over
every rock
but still I go
and walk the dog

The dog is deaf
and listens not
not when I call
nor fill his pot
I find it makes
him fun to mock
he only knows
I walk the dog

The dog is lame
his balance nil
his legs unsteady
when standing still
he cannot jump
he cannot jog
but walk he can
I walk the dog