The Double-Edged Race -- A Poem (Philosophy of Environment)

Author's note: This is a poem that combines environmentalism with asceticism. No offense has been intended during the making of this piece, nor afterwards. If you have enjoyed it, consider sharing it to spread the word. Perhaps with your help we can make a difference in the near or far future. Enjoy.

"Does the human species have the right either morally or ethically outlive the planet that birthed our very existence? Earth evolved us, nurtured us, and inspired us. When it goes, perhaps we should go as well?" -- John Duran

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Ants have ruled this world,

No other species could've previously fortold.
 It is so comfortable, ruling the world,

Where no other species can ever oppose our throne.
 

By being the rulers of all,
 We have enslaved everything else in this aquatic ball.
 The plants, the other species, entire lands,
 Just for us to distract ourselves,
 From the inevitable end,
 Caused by ourselves.

We are both the constructors and the destructors,
 Using all resources in the name of prosperity,
 While doing so, to ensure the survival of present humanity,
 We actually bring the end,
 Of future humanity,
 As we pass away the time in concrete, asphalt and sand.
 
 And so the precursors we have imitated,
 And yet we remain apathetic,
 Of our development's consequence,
 On the world's decreasing lifespan,
 Of a once more vivid, aesthetic.

And you might laugh at me,
 For being a monk, an ascetic,
 But once the world will fall to its knee,
 No one will turn and blame me,
 For encouraging waste, for too much spending, for reproducing,
 While our submissive world,
 Its final lesson for you all it shall be introducing.
 

The path of the monk,
 The path of abstinence, of the strong,
 Can improve our lives and the environment,
 With little need for compensating external empowerment,
 Only if we are to oppose the tyranny,
 Of endless opportunity,
 And its globally-toxic
 Stressful orthodoxy.
 How ironic, yet far from the moronic.