When will water this way come
and fill this ancient creek?
There’s been no rain hereabouts
for many a long, long week.
When drought breaks the creek will rush,
a torrent raging by,
but for now it’s turned to dust —
no clouds have blessed the sky.
While in the east, it’s flooding,
and towns and farms are lost.
Can these extremes of climate stop,
or has a line been crossed?
Dry creek bed, Flinders Ranges. Photo by Ginette Pestana
“I’m rising,” said the sea,
“there’s no room for you and me…”
On Tuvalu, people fear
their home soon will disappear.
The Maldives now are on the brink,
and Kiribati too will sink.
Five Solomon islands already lost,
beneath the rising waves were tossed.
Do we ignore the ocean’s drive,
or will we help our friends survive?
One million face uncertainty,
in a global warming catastrophe.
Photo by Asad Photo Maldives
(in response to Prompt #4)
In the sea live many ghosts
Of pirates, convicts and more.
Lost sunken treasure.
The remnants of war.
In my yard are fossils
Where the sea used to be,
Billions of years ago
Before there was me.
The sea is claiming back the land
On islands, it’s a disaster.
The billion year shift of tides
Is coming. It’s coming even faster.
It’s speeding up as the globe heats up
Is that about how we live?
To slow it down do we need to change
How we live, what we take, what we give?
Give back to the sea by keeping it clean
Of plastics, oil and junk.
Keep the land cool by reusing more
Or one day the land will be sunk.
The tide is turning.
Australian Children’s Poetry 