We’re Getting There

Tifft Nature Preserve, New York

There is hope to be found

In the collapse of industry

In the waning days of empire

Towers of rust impose upon a cerulean sky

Just beyond a thriving pond

I would not eat the fish

But we’re getting there

We’re getting there

Former mounds of trash

Now home to milkweed and butterflies

Among these hills,

My feet were stung by ants like nowhere else

This place is wild and still captive

But we’re getting there

We’re getting there

Whole fields of Japanese knotweed

Calling out to us

To do better

Invasive honeysuckles

And phragmites

So much work yet to be done

So many partnerships

To still make

But we’re getting there

We’re getting there

A nature center

Built on stolen land

Above a landfill

Next to a highway

Teaches the next generation

Ways to be

Better friends

I hope

We’re getting there

But is there

Enough time left?

Maybe not for this culture

But the milkweed and the knotweed,

They will survive

And the redwing blackbird

Will always rush by