I am not a hippie.

The Environmental Patriot

He serves his country best

Who loves the land itself.

Not just the people sitting fat

And bland, sinking beers midst natural resources

They have messed.

Not just the shrunken babies dying

In the tired exploited dust

Derived down–degraded soil–eroded empires.

Not just the business men, developers

Of housing projects, purveyors of plastic cups, the just

Lawyers who emphasize

The equity of private enterprise.

Not the philosophers who insist

That human values far exceed non–human things

(Especially when pissed),

And scoff at those who see beyond

The work of men to Thoreau’s bond.

They coarsely jest

At him who loves the land itself

And serves his country best.

--Charles Flemming (1916-1987)

No sir, ain't no hippies here. We be patriots.