Acquire Me Not Poem by Richmon Rey Jundis

I stand among the forgotten,
Rooted in the soil of centuries,
A silent witness to the rise of your desires,
As wind once gentle now whispers sorrow,
Rustling through my leaves,
Green fading to yellow,
Yellow turning to brown.
I gave you fresh air to breathe,
And shadows that shade for you to rest,
Yet your gratitude fades like seasons past.

I have lived through your history,
Peacefully entwined with your kind.
But your hands, once gentle,
Have learned to wield machines,
Steel teeth that bite and sever.
You acquire us with ease,
Consume us without pause,
And leave only shadows where forests once stood.

You have learned to destroy
But forgotten to renew.
You raze the earth and call it progress,
Planting tall structures of stone and glass
Where my kin once sang in the wind.
We are no longer beings in your eyes,
But objects to be ordered,
Resources to be mined,
Your endless hunger is shaping our fate.

I have felt it,
The blood of my kind seeping into the Earth,
Trickling down to my roots,
Carrying the anguish of what once was.
You position and reorder,
Manipulate and extract,
A master of techniques
Who forgets the essence of what is.

Your thirst for power blinds you.
You trample creation
In pursuit of your own kingdom,
Seeking to replace the One
Who breathed life into us all.
You, who stand tall in your arrogance,
Are but fleeting shadows against eternity.

Your machines purge meaning,
Stripping all things of their essence.
They exist no longer as they are,
but as tools for your ambition,
Fragments of Being,
Crushed under the weight of your greed.

Coward.
Greedy.
Drunk on the mirage of dominion.

When will you see what you have become?
When will you awaken your essence?
When will you listen to the pulse of the earth
And the echoes of your own heart?
Have you forgotten the harmony we once shared?
Have you severed the roots of your memory?

Think!
Feel!
Let our voices pierce your indifference.
We, the silent witnesses, call to you,
O brilliant minds,
Be more than conquerors.
Be human once more.