the empire of unsheathed claws

I walked in a green place,
past water that sang as it fell from on high
and saw many things, living and not
arranging themselves without thought of the needs
of their conquerors.

The air smelled bright
and the sun didn't bother me,
filtered through many green leaves
and sparking in rainbows through water.
I thought that a planet, too, has a lust to survive,

And sometimes, now in my berth
I want to weep for the things I never knew I had done
But I can't,
Because I'm not sorry I've done what I had to do to survive
And I don't want to tell you what's bothering me.

Because, lover, I know: you will ask me to just walk away
And I want to go back and stop everyone else.