Do it, for what it’s worth
Thailand
2021, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
I woke up to the luminous sun suffocating me,
As the trees swayed to the birds’ chirps, feeling free.
I used stare out at the unsettled turquoise sea,
Realizing every tide represents me.
The turquoise darkens as years go by,
The only clear water is the tears we cry.
My only home Island Tuvalu
Is drowning, leaving me clueless. What shall I do?
“Tuvalu is sinking” is the local catchphrase here,
We can joke about it all we want, but it’s what we most fear.
Climate change is the Loch Ness monster of our story,
Stopping this would be our biggest glory.
The sound of the erratic movement of the sea,
Is a symbol of the earth’s plea.
The arctic ice melts into its tears,
Their tears grow into people’s fears.
Water leisurely rises in our sea ,
Lands are sinking, causing people to flee.
The species beseech for safety, the habitats are at risk,
Flooding is more common; this is an issue we need to fix.
Save Tuvalu, save the earth
Do it for what it’s worth
Reflection
Reflection
This poem is inspired by the perspective of adolescence in Tuvalu who are aware of Tuvalu’s risk of sinking. It discusses the prominent issue of climate change in a poetic way that expresses the tension of the island's wellbeing. By writing this poem, I placed myself in the people's shoes to convey a realistic point of view. I got this idea after I recently learned about the cruel impacts of climate change in our geography curriculum, which assisted us greatly in understanding the problems. I hope this poem opens up the eyes of the people who are privileged to not suffer the consequences of climate change to see how different the situation can be somewhere else on the planet. I want to make as many people aware as possible to make the impact achieve its limit.