ALetterToTheEarthFromTheChildren

I’m dying.
I think I’m dying…slowly.

The air is a baby born from
Lit cigarettes, rotting garbage
And the burning bones of those who came before us.
The smog has my lungs in a hostage situation
And the ransom is too high a price
When I can’t even afford to pay attention
To what’s happening.

So think about it…
We’re our own worst enemy.
See, it’s an eye for an eye
So we’re blind to our crimes
And we’ve already packed landfills
With indifference
But we can’t stop what we’ve already started.

Even the noise is against us
We grow deaf to our mother’s pleas
And drown out her calls with the music
Of engines and TV’s so we wouldn’t have to think about it.
If only she could send us a text message
We would probably listen then.

But now…
The world is a witness
So the ozone watches in shock
Her jaw drops as she cries ultraviolet
Like a response to society’s ultra violence

We’re turning the planet into a gas chamber…
Where it’s a weakness to be human
And we’ve given up on making gas masks
Looking for an antidote but we lack that.
Now I think we’re all dying too.

The water’s poisonous if it’s not bottled
And the purest I remember seeing was in a teardrop.
Cumulus clouds bleed acid
While their wounds leak sunlight
So we think it’s alright.

We build iron giants and concrete constructs
That graze the heavens just to prove we can.
But the Tower of Babel didn’t last either.

They told me to never stare at the sun
Or else I might go blind…
But they never said anything about watching TV too long
And it’s too late to change where we’re headed.
So we learn to speak in slang
Write in misinterpreted body language.
And cuss fluently like it was our mother tongue.
So they treat us…
They treat the youth like chemicals
Ready to explode into fireworks of failure
When they put us together
So they could say they told us so…

But we are the ones that can change all that.

The children of a generation that
Brought us to where we are now
So why do you doubt that we can resurrect
Your hopes for the future.
But I beg you mother…
To let us live long enough to change.