Spoken Word Poem: My Dearest Grandson

by Ricardo Gurango

My dearest grandson, I am so so sorry.

I know a decade in my time seems so so far, see

We didn’t know. Not enough people knew

Not enough people saw it, or knew what to do

Not enough people realized how exactly to start

Not enough people realized that they could be a part

Of the fix to the this problem, not enough was done

I’m sorry that you won’t ever see a rising sun.

One of my favorite things to do was breathe the air.

It was this fulfilling experience, invisible but there

You could just go and breathe in and then breathe out.

It’s something I can’t imagine a life without.

I’m sorry that you never saw a flower.

it was one of those last colorful things in those final hours.

They were beautiful. They were joy.

One of the last things we succeeded to destroy.

We tried telling them. We spoke out.

It was almost too late but we spoke out.

We said not too pass these deadlines, but we passed them

It almost too late for the earth but I asked them,

Why do we watch. Why do we stand

As the world right in front of us goes out of hand.

We watch and we wait, we watch and we wait,

Until the time runs out and it’s decades too late

Stop

and imagine a world torn apart

Motionless, oceanless, broken from the start

Not a fish in the sea, not a breath of fresh air

Any trace of life unimaginably rare

What do you want me to tell your grandchildren

When they ask me, what the hell happened?

How can I explain to them that decades ago

Their ancestors tore their planet to scrap and

They did nothing as they watched the world die.

They sat and waited as smog filled the sky.

All for the convenience of that plastic bottle they had

Or that one time they littered though they knew it was bad

We tried to stop taking steps, but we kept

Stepping, we stepped, and Mother Earth wept

She wept and we went on, we stepped on without pause

Drilling and killing, we stept and went on

Except

For the people who didn’t.

We can be those people, but it won’t be sufficient

Because we need everyone, every single person on this Earth

If we want any efforts to mean any worth

Every person has to play their part now

We can’t wait any longer, we have to start now.

Use less water and create less trash.

Promote sustainable companies using your cash

Make change with your dollar, or with what you eat.

Try vegetarian or vegan, try eating less meat.

Educate yourself and educate others

Spread awareness to your sisters and brothers

Because at this rate, your grandkids will be alive

In a world at a state where they’ll barely survive

Motionless, oceanless, without a sign of green

Because we didn’t do anything when these problems were seen

Except that we did. We knew this was happening.

We saw the world start melting and blackening.

But too many people ignored it.

Too many saw the crisis and assumed we could afford it.

Well we can’t. This is our last chance.

We have to stop at this problem, give it more than a glance

We can’t focus on the money, it’s not worth our grandchildren’s Earth.

We have to look at what convenience and money is really worth,

So I’d like to say on behalf of my generations,

On behalf of all this planet’s nations

I’m sorry, to my grandchildren, their children, generations away

That we’re tearing apart your world today.