Love letter to the planet

One of the things which has been exercising my mind this week has been the Valentine special we, at Damn Cheek, are running on Zoom. I’m involved in various ways and one of the spin offs, as always, is the motivation to write. One of my contributions is the poem below which I thought merited sharing more widely. It takes the idea of Valentine and makes the planet the object of affection. See what you think. To hear it read, come along tomorrow. I’ll put a link at the bottom of this piece.

A love letter to the planet

I knew you were the planet for me 
the moment I first saw you, 
a traumatic time, being born isn’t easy.
All that pain and the shock of the new,

the cold air, the bright lights,
but then, the wonder, the birdsong,
 the hills I could see as we drove along,
the intricate patterns of the twigs on the trees,
the shapes of the leaves, 
I was in love.

The relationship hasn’t been easy-
you tend to blow hot and cold,
can be cruel, unforgiving,
but I knew, before I was very old,
that you were why I was living.

You nourished me, provided food
for my body and for my soul,
paid no heed to my sulks and moods,
helped to keep me strong and whole.

For my part, I’ve made mistakes,
not nurtured this relationship,
not cared for your welfare,
allowed your beauty to be blighted.

I have at least been faithful,
not spent time with other planets,
satisfied myself with watching them on grainy film.
No choice I guess but I want to feel it would be the same
if my fidelity was put to the test.

So, what can I give you this Valentine’s Day?
Can’t give you a rose, you’ve plenty of those.
Chocolates don’t work, bottles of wine.
Can’t give you anything to say ‘please be mine’.

Maybe my gift is to stop doing stuff,
stuff that threatens your future,
say ‘enough is enough’, that’s what you need.
Promise to do better, not be driven by greed.

So happy Valentines to my one true planet,
from the valleys below to the sky above
I promise you constructive love.

And here’s the link for more info and tickets for tomorrow – https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/damn-cheek-productions-cic/t-ylxrmx