THANK YOU - A POEM BY YEAR 9 STUDENTS

Thank you

For living your lives without a care

And pumping our trees with remorse

You left them with no words to whisper

Just cries of pain, a weakened force

What was once seen as a wonderful river

With an enchanted rippled surface

Bent into a lifeless body of blue

Drowning out its purpose

Thank you

You chopped down trees

For oil and success

You ruined homes

And called it a ‘transactional process’

You destroyed our future

And you said it was for us

Teaching the world that money’s worth more than forests

Thank you

For sending us an unsolvable problem

The irreversible change you gave

Knitted a network of life that’s unravelling towards its grave

There is no more hope for clean air

You disposed of that years ago

It simply blew away

And allowed for decay to grow

Thank you

For giving us the responsibility

Of cleaning up your mess

Did you expect it to magically disappear?

You weren’t the perfect princess

The pollution piled up until

The havoc was too much

The land collapsed underneath it

And was poisoned at its touch

Thank you

For leaving us with nothing

Giving us a place fit for dust

A place where the only living thing

Is riddled with disgust

The cries of the waters haunt us

As we try to drift to sleep

Crashing on our slumber

Sending horrors to the deep

Thank you

For taking the earth’s life away

Stripping it of greens and blues

And filling it with shades of grey

The world’s as dark as your habits

As sweltering as a furnace

You disemboweled our planet

And its organs won’t resurface

Thank you

For teaching us that the future doesn’t matter

Your white world weeps for wealth

But won’t recognise the worth of its widows

And won’t nurture the world’s health

You ignored Mother Nature

You pretend you haven't heard her

And now our hands are stained

With the blood of your murder

Thank you

For your burning and consuming

And your lack of contribution

You spun the noose for the world’s execution

We are drowning in your neglect

No use to simply disengage

You will die of old age

While we will cease from climate change

It’s no use to say sorry

It’s a little late for words

Because of your actions

We’ve lost our precious birds

We’ve lost our precious water

Our sky, our ice, our sea

So instead of thanking you

You should be thanking me

Step down from the position

Let us take the stand

We can change the world

We can bring back the land

But only if you realise

That your time has come and gone

And in order to rebuild

The world must move on

Thank you.

Written by Grace K, Molly Q, Bianca R and Isabella T - Year 9 students from St Patrick’s College Campbelltown, NSW. Written part of their English curriculum 9EN1 Poetry of Sustainability and shared with their written consent, with the thanks.