I breathe blue and green
and feel the air on my face
while the wind pushes the clouds
in their playful race
the ponds are a sheer shelter
for fishes and frogs
while the crickets accompany
the birds in their songs
the river flows calmly
in the middle of one land
one home, one host
one respected older friend
Seven generations
lived here before me
seven more generations
are meant to be…
… … … … … … …
These lines
are a lie
… … … … … … …
… I’m breathing grey
feeling the chemicals in my mouth
while the chimneys shoot out
their rude, toxic clouds
the ponds are acidic
I can’t swim, nor fishes can
and the frogs falling in
are skeletons in the end
the river flows resigned
dividing the land in two
the neighbor is now a stranger
and the sibling is too
Seven generations
lived here before me…
… but I am the parasite
threatening the tree.
Living once
and living for all
living to the fullest
living each goal
Living exploiting
just because I can
living proud of
the supremacy of the white man
How could I think
this egotism was right
how could I believe in it
and in its name even fight!
I stole my offspring’s future
I wonder how I could dare
but I won’t be anymore
the one that does not care
So, what am I loyal to?
Should it be my land?
The planet as a whole,
to the smallest grain of sand?
One day I’ll find out the what,
the how and the why
I am supposed to do
in this time under this sky
meanwhile I search as hard as I can…
… until my heart will quit being sore
and its rotten side won’t be here anymore.
Poem written by Alice Damiano, E4A McGill student during the Climate Justice field course hosted by York University in Toronto, May-June 2017, and inspired by the Toxic Tour in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada – thank you to Lindsay and Vanessa Gray. This content was originally published on Alice Damiano’s personal blog, click here for the original post.
Please note that this is a poem, therefore the description of the environment is not accurate.
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