Clemesphone

Clemesphone was a wood nymph who lived near the whispering water,
Her mother was the virgin soil, the river was her father.
  It was her life to protect the woods, maintain them clean and pure,
  She would patrol her home domain and sustain them safe and sure.
She tended to its wild gardens and watched o’er its many flocks,
A vital part of the forest itself, like flower stalks and river rocks.
  She loved the living life she led and never did she know fear
  For the forest that provided her life considered her its most dear.

Clemesphone was a good nymph who never did anything wrong,
She went about her thoughtful work, sweetly singing a shimmering song.
  For many ages she did her part,forever with gentle care,
  She was a friend to all creatures, as well as the trees and the air.
From the beginning of time ‘til the dawn of mankind, the forest provided her with life,
She never had need of anything more,and was never troubled with strife.
  But then slowly something subsided and her world began to change,
  A new creature invaded her world who behaved most unnatural and most strange.

Clemesphone was not a rude nymph so she went to welcome her new friends,
She went in the name of her forest world, to see how their needs she could attend.
  But before she introduced herself, she realized what Man brought,
  She soon became a thing of times past, another wood nymph Humankind forgot.
She’d never seen a wolf murdered or a tree that’d been chopped down,
She’d never been exposed to filth or waste like she saw around their town.
  She cried as her forest was ravaged, and as all her friends disappeared,
  And then like the forest that was her life she vanished – and has yet reappeared.

by John M. Waller
Composed in 1987