Words for salvation

[shapeofthings]

What I want to do today is anything but
        Write
This essay that’s due:
        Cost-benefit analysis for biodiversity conservation
30 percent of my total mark for
        Environmental economics class.
The absurdity of placing dollar values on
        Nature itself
While spending my days sitting in
        Lecture theatres, staring at screens:
An indoor life while I Master the
        Environment. Outside
The fierce wind shakes the wires that
        Bind me electronically;
Leaves spin and settle in piles of
        Restless rustling, reflecting
My internal landscape: the urge to be
        Rushing, wild,
Over mountains, down river valleys
        Studying the world
Through observation and conversation, not
        Academic papers:
No essay captures the forest spirits, the
        Sacred places that
Nourish us and define what it is to be
        Human:
Trap of my own construction; bound
        To the city,
To the written word and this white page
        In some strange attempt
To redeem myself and, somehow,
        Humanity.