Earth Day 2021

Earth Day 2021 is Thursday, April 22.  My granddaughter Rose wrote this month’s poem for Earth Day 2019.  I decided it was better than anything that I could write.    Marj

Still There

A glacier moves across a plateau.
It flattens the land until it comes to a halt, bringing a rock with it.  Then it recedes.
But the rock is still there.

The snow and ice give way to a cycle of seasons; warm and rainy, hot and humid, cool and breezy, cold and dry.
With each step in the cycle, the plants and animals grow, then flourish, then die.
But the rock is still there.

Tribes of people come and go, living on the land and then moving on.
They like the rock.  They call the hill it lies on “Rock Mound”.
But others come and drive the tribes away.  They claim the land for themselves.
But the rock is still there.

More people come to the plains.  They like the flat land.  It is good for farming.
They plow away most of the grass for their corn and grain.
But the hill the rock lies on is too uneven to use, and is left alone.
So the rock is still there.

One by one, the farms disappear.  Cities form in their place.
A civilization spreads, connecting the communities.
A town is built around the hill.
But the rock is still there.

Children play on the hill.
They sled down it in winter and fly kites on its peak.
One group even paints the rock with bright, hopeful colors.
But the rock is still there.

The snow no longer comes; the children cannot sled.
There is no wind for the kites.
Instead, the children listen to a man talk about the glacier that brought the rock here.
There are no glaciers anymore.
But the rock is still there.

A terrible storm comes.  Trees are uprooted, buildings knocked down.
The town below the hill is flooded, everything swept away.
But the rock is still there.

The children must stay inside, away from the burning sun, the blistering heat, and the torrential rain.
They sit in cooled, darkened rooms, listening to grandparents’ stories about breezes and green grass and snow.
They wonder what it was like.
No one goes out now.  The rock is alone.
But the rock is still there.

Everyone is worried.  The order has come to evacuate.
Covered by UV nets and sunscreen, families pile into cars.
The children stare, taking in their first glimpse of the outdoors as the vehicles pull away.  It is not like what their grandparents told them about.
The people of the town head north, to the coldest spot left on Earth.
But the rock is still there.

It is too hot for life.
The plants that are left wither and die.  The animals follow.
But the rock is still there.

The organic components of the world are long gone.
The buildings are starting to fall.They crumble to the ground, the last remnants of a planet that once harbored life.
Soon, they will vanish too.
But the rock is still there.

We only have one planet.
Let’s make sure it’s all still there.

Granddaughter Rose W
Written on October 2, 2018, age 15
Written for Earth Day, 2019 and all the days to come