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.
