Masked Aliens

I watch each day frills torn away

Skirts rising higher and higher

Exposing naked and bruised legs

Arms without sleeves wiry and frail

Trees standing desolate everywhere

Once in green frocks now ragged

I watch the mountains denuded

Deforestation for pecuniary gains

Where one stood coniferous forests 

Sliding down tears of brown rivulets 

Choking rivers and lakes where 

No more schools of fish play games

I watch bumper to bumper road traffic

Exhaust pipes coughing gases toxic

Pollution levels crossing permissible limits

In all small, medium and big cities

Incidents of asthma and bronchitis rising

Is this the price we are paying for modernity?

I watch garbage dumps overflowing 

With plastic bags thrown indiscriminately 

Animals feeding on leftovers choking  

And dying of plastic poisoning

Some countries have not banned plastics

Yet espouse protecting the environment

I watch and watch signs of global warming

With fear in my heart what we will be leaving

Survivors walking with masks on faces

Oxygen tanks strapped on their small backs

Nasogastric tubes winding through nostrils 

Earth left with people appearing as aliens