Poetry

The Sound of Silence

Leo Lawton

Man, with his intelligence, could not control himself.

A voice in the darkness pleaded for salvation,

but none would listen,

and there was overpopulation on the land.

Man knew the earth could not sustain this onslaught,

and yet he multiplied unabatedly.

All could not be fed,

and there was hunger on the land.

When there was not food enough,

for all to have a share.

Man slaughtered all the beasts,

and there was shame upon the land.

When man needed still more land to grow the food,

for all those wanton born,

he mowed the forests,

and there was drought upon the land.

When still there was not enough to feed man,

he reaped the fishes from the sea,

and the fowl from the sky,

and only man remained upon the land.

Where there had been trees and flowers,

dust storms blew across the plains.

Man starved,

and there was silence on the land!