This world is sick and rotten
Belly-full with hungry mites
Impaled with wounds that bleeds its fear
caused by monstrous parasites

The depths of our seas grow hotter
as the sun leers from above
Creatures migrate across the globe
in search of home, alike the dove

Coral hardens until brittle,
crushed like bugs beneath our feet
Its vibrancy fades like pastels
bleached by the sunlight's heat

Plumes of grey scorch our skylines
Burning embers obscured by smoke
Exhaust fumes flood our cities,
tainting lungs until we choke

Animal busts hang above door frames
Tusks seems more appealing than stone
The white marble that constructed Pallas
is replaced by much whiter bone

Guns are sold with little worry
to those with fantasies most grim
of a cornered beast, crying out in panic
as they're shackled limb to limb

Their ears are tagged and they're in cages,
surrounded by countless shivering young
Infants separated from their brethren,
and the mother whose head was strung

Bloodied hides stripped from skeletons;
the rest is left to rot
Its used for meat and mode and medicine
or cheap tat to be bought

Profit is the only true ambition
in our plutocratic world
We take what we can, and abuse it,
ignorant and unconcerned

Horns are pried from tender skulls
Fins sliced, and tusks shattered
Feathers are ripped from quivering wings
Infants lost, and bodies battered

Threats of extinction grow larger;
statistics loom above our heads
An accusatory finger directs the blame
as we tally up the dead

Acid rains down in Northern cities
Though it's not by Nature's hand it falls
Political feuds extinguish morals
as every party erupts in brawls

Explosions boom in Eastern deserts
The wild force propels the sand
Heavenwards fly the lives of innocents
Terror's the one language they understand

Threats of war are tossed around
like casual greetings or farewells
The anthems of every nation
begin to sound like funeral bells

We play pretend that we are civil
donning our suits and clip-on ties
Surveying those sat around the table
with cruel and bestial eyes

Dictators poison their own people
with oppressive ideals and rules
Conformity creates a common sheep
An army made of human tools

We idolise those with selfish prospects
and follow prejudiced regimes
We promote little of equality
and exploit it to suit our schemes

This world is sick and rotten,
benighted by our woeful plight,
bleeding life into leeching maws
We are the parasites

A/N

This poem was inspired mostly by Marina and the Diamonds' song - Savages - and my own opinion of humanity as a whole. If you couldn't tell, I am a hugely cynical person and love to complain about the world's problems.

On a much more positive note, this is my longest poem to date, standing at 18 stanzas and 429 words!

References:
• Dove - referring to the biblical story in which Noah releases a dove in search of land after the flood to see if the water had receded
• Pallas - the daughter of Triton who was raised alongside the goddess Athena, and was accidentally killed by the latter during a misunderstanding; she is also mentioned in Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven (another one of my favourite poems)

art credit: "Mother Nature VS Man" - Sunshine Ammerman