Reason leaves town, hope takes a vacation.
Darkness enshrouds the Earth
in disease, devastation, death.
The countries that must cooperate
to save the planet, don’t.
Then King Midas tips the Scales of Justice—
greed becomes green—capitalists race to decarbonize,
with parts per million the new bottom line.
Eirene, goddess of peace, waves a scepter,
yielding a Manhattan Project for climate,
a global Marshall Plan for mitigation.
Hephaestus, the gods’ craftsman,
helps industry Titans clean the Augean atmosphere
with carbon capture, safe nuclear, green hydrogen,
fuel cells, green cement, 3D-printed everything.
Athena, goddess of wisdom and war, persuades cities
to build smart grids, bioswales, desalination plants,
vertical farms, wildlife corridors, urban forests.
Eunomia, goddess of legislation, prevails on leaders
to pass carbon taxes, cap-and-trade,
protections for oceans, forests, biodiversity.
Hebe, goddess of youth, convinces them
to embrace rooftop gardens, collapsible straws,
vegan burgers, sustainability, green engineering studies.
Gaia and humankind at last make peace.
Warming air, rising seas, refugee flows,
slow to a halt.
Thanks to the gods, light returns.
Chaos, despair, recede.
Life triumphs.
—
Anne Gruner is a Pushcart nominee whose poetry has been in over a dozen print and online publications, including Amsterdam Quarterly Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, New Verse Newsletter, Written Tales, and Poetry Downtown 2024. Her other work has appeared in Persimmon Tree, Third Flatiron Review, Constellations: Journal of Poetry and Fiction, Hippocampus Magazine, Silver Blade Magazine, and others. A former CIA analyst, Anne lives in McLean, Virginia with her husband and two golden retrievers. https://www.annegruner.com/
