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"Four" Cast

The earth's been here four billion years, 
But humans mere four million. 
How often has the atmosphere 
Received a "global killing?" 

Have comets many seared the skies, 
Volcanoes oft erupted? 
What oceans parched till desert-dry 
And climates left disrupted? 

How many times has planet warmed, 
Engorged with greenhouse gasses, 
While glaciers melted and reformed 
On continental masses? 

Has dust obscured the solar light 
For years without a summer? 
Have days turned into winter nights 
For years too long to number? 

It's only four millennia 
Since first we scratched the surface 
Of planet's cornucopia 
For our own selfish purpose. 

It's just been last four centuries 
That we've begun to batter 
Environment by felling trees 
And killing life that matters. 

Since only forty years ago 
Have we possessed the power 
To threaten nearly all we know 
From elephant to flower. 

If manage we to do our worst 
On scale approaching global, 
Can really we the planet hurt, 
So ancient and so noble? 

No more than mere mosquitoes we 
To earth so long receiving 
Assaults imposed externally 
And from infernal regions. 

So let us in our arrogance 
Destroy what we should cherish. 
In thousand years times forty hence, 
Just we that will have perished. 

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