To Live and Die This Way
Change is supposed to be enlivening, unfortunately for our species
The change is what is killing us.
To the people in suits, white coats, overalls, uniforms and costumes-
This is our mud ball two spaces away from the life-giving sun.
Just be still and listen - Don’t move, don’t run.
The ocean breeze blows swiftly across but brings with it aviation fuel.
The sharks, whales and manatees all drown.
Huge Gorgonian fans in the oceans - Leaves made of thousand tiny bones,
Will grow with the multitudes of millions of creature-skeletons in the sea.
Don’t go anywhere, don’t turn your back.
This concerns them, you, him and me.
In all your might you stand before me.
I see the violence slide into your eyes
Like dense smoke behind cracking walls of glass.
It is your nature to inflict pain- To kill, murder, kidnap, bomb and destroy.
To even fight and kill your own brothers…And that is when buildings crumble.
Cars and busses eventually
Flicker Like Toys In Oblivion.
I see people with no spirit or life, and I feel a sun without any warmth.
You lose all you have been nurtured with-
Prayer, devotion, love, faith and care.
There is a never-ending war Of Nature versus Nurture.
Chaos and destruction mark this earth.
Turn back all the atomic clocks; Undo the devastating damage;
Help treat every painful wound.
Don’t be ignorant and don’t pretend-
Be the warriors and fight to the end.
The damage has solidified like diamond.
Goodbye rhinoceros, monarch butterfly and mermaid blue sparkling ocean.
You will have to bear being forced to set
Havoc-causing, misery-leading and Fire- exploding plans into motion.
Pictures and memories of the transcend
And tranquil past will remain forever.
But in the way forward,
The past will be nothing more than a foreign country to us…
Pryaska Goorhoo
Grade 12 ERV
