Redemption
Colombo, Sri Lanka
2020, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
you laugh
as your fingers trail through silken velvety waves
caressing, elusive, among drifting strands of seaweed
and iridescent, barely visible sea butterflies
to reach the glimmering seashells beneath;
you call the ocean your dearest refuge, but when asked to protect it
you do not budge.
the tender shells of molluscs dissolve,
their calcium armor mingling with the currents of dissolved coral—
nothing left to protect them against our attacks
as plastic nets ensnare their present and demolish their future
still you do nothing.
we children, we pick debris from the waves
you don’t answer our questions of why these are here
and yell at us instead
to not get our hands dirty.
but you’ve left us no choice:
this broken world
of fragile interdependence
cries out to us;
our tears mingle with its lifeblood
painting the world in rich hues
of redemption.
Works Cited
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42264788
https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/What+is+Ocean+Acidification%3F
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MYD28M
https://www.condorferries.co.uk/marine-ocean-pollution-statistics-facts
https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution#all-charts-preview
Reflection
The main inspiration for this piece was the fact that a lot of adults in present society do attempt to teach us to respect the environment, but they can be strangely hypocritical at the same time when they tell us not to worry about it and fool themselves into thinking that it will all magically be over. The message I wanted to get through is that we can't depend on anyone else or on any other generation to step in and save us, but the good news is that many of our generation are taking active steps to break out of the trap of climate change. I've learned that we don't need to rely on anyone else, and that we as students, teenagers, and citizens of the future are quite capable of creating change. In particular, the increasing popularity of beach cleanups as a means of fundraising by many schools in my area gives me hope, because even though many adults have voiced concerns about the safety of handling trash on the beach, all of these fundraisers have been immensely successful. Personally, learning about this issue has inspired me to be more vocal when advocating for activism against climate change, and I'm definitely going to try to be a part of more events in the future.