The New Puritan

A zealot, ever watchful, he exhorts
his colleagues to recycle every scrap
of paper, metal, plastic, glass - all sorts.
Don’t toss that can until you’ve checked the map
for bins collecting trash for second use.
Beware, all heedless sinners! He’ll enforce
enviro-rules with pillory and noose!
Like Holmes, he tracks stray litter to its source.
Perplexed, his ex looks on in unbelief:
When did this man begin to care about
preserving trees, protecting root and leaf,
professing reverent love for every sprout?

A wedding license turns to pulp again;
a wife’s just rubbish now — as she was then.

Bryce Christensen