those who survive
the coming storms
The fires
the floodwaters
the hurricanes
The tens of millions
desperate
displaced
By rising seas
by failing crops
by wars

And wonder
how we let ourselves
be duped
By greedy
politicians
corporate interests
The failures
of the nation states
to act
They'll know
the climate science
was in place
Decades before
the ice had
disappeared
Not the first
civilization
to go under
But the first
world wide
catastrophy
Since human players
entered on
the scene

Our successes
bringing on
The sixth extinction
Losing
with every year
a million species
And now it looks
like we
may join that number
Or as the rabbi
in the Jewish joke
advises
We could grow gills
learn to live
under water

So little time
is left us now
to act
Some are looking
for technology
to save us
But most of us
continue
with our lives
As though the world
we know
would last forever

I'm an old man
won't witness
the full fury
My grandchildren
will have much
to endure
I think of them
my heart if filled
with sorrrow
And shame
I did so little
kept so quiet
But they'll be wiser
knowing what's
at stake
able perhaps
1o make
the changes needed
t
To avert
the worst of
what's to come

I pray for them
and for the world
I love

The naked planet
all its teeming
life

Its mountains, forests
rivers, oceans
deserts

Its towns and cities
farms and
countryside
May those in power
find the strength
the wisdom
To save what still
is possible
to save