climate change – Rich Clarkson Poetry

I visited the Anglican Church of Melanesia this September, in part to see first hand the impacts of Climate Change in the Pacific. I was struck by how tangible those impacts are and the real sense of vulnerability in these island nations. However I was also struck by the sense that though these islands may be vulnerable, they are not powerless. I wrote this poem to express some of that.

There is a vulnerability in these
small Islands where the challenges they face
are mostly not of their own making. Seas
are rising, trees are being felled, the race
for land and for development is fierce –
their magnitude could flood the roads with tears.
But vulnerable does not mean powerless.
Developing does not mean uninformed.
These islands, villages, and towns are getting
ready now to face the gathering storm.
Stone by stone, day by day, resisting
those forces that would stop them from existing.
Here, where land and sea are in a battle aeons long,
a fragile hope against all odds has always been their song.

I visited the Anglican Church of Melanesia this September and as part of the visit I spoke to the students at the Bishop Patteson Theological College at Kohimarama. This is a poetic description of part of that deeply moving conversation.

I
There is a small Pacific Island where
when a child is born they cut the cord
and plant it in the ground with a new tree
so that, however far away they sail,
they will forever be linked with their home.

II
I met a man today, a priest, who knows
the place where his umbilical tree is growing.
It is a source of life and strength to him,
a tangible connection to the earth,
to God’s creation, to his ancestral home.

III
That cord was severed many years before,
but now he fears it will be cut again
and this time he’s not sure if he’ll survive
the separation from his source of life.

IV
His island home is being washed away
and with it goes a part of who he is,
while we sit by and watch – or worse, do not.
We are presiding over his destruction.

V
I looked him in the eye then turned away
in sorrow and in shame for what we’ve done,
yet still he greeted me as his own brother,
a fellow child of God and, trembling, I
returned his gaze once more and said “I’m sorry
for all that we have done to you my friend”.

VI
Our actions or complacency are not
without their consequences in this world
but every day we have to make the choice:
Do we give life and seek forgiveness, or
do we keep cutting that life-giving cord?

I’ve been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan recently, since watching the film ‘A Complete Unknown’, and inspired by his protest songs have had a go at writing my own!

Where are the poets, the prophets the priests and the kings
Lending their voices to those who can no longer sing
Do they have the courage to meet this hour
Exchanging their platforms of privilege and power
For a better, more beautiful world where we all can be free

How do the men making millions off misery sleep
When their bedsheets are washed with the tears of the many who weep?
The merchants of war who would rather we bleed
Than exchange their selfishness, power, and greed
For a better more beautiful world where we all can be free

Why are the women still wailing and when will they see
Their long promised justice roll in like the waves on the sea?
In the face of oppression still they persist
Replacing a world filled with prejudice
With a better more beautiful world where we all can be free

Who are the people who profit while the planet burns?
Spreading pollution and lies without any concerns
Blaming our problems on refugees
While the billionaire conmen steal whatever they please
From the better more beautiful world where we all can be free

Where are the poets, the prophets, the priests and the kings
The ones who believe in the promise of what tomorrow may bring
The hopers and dreamers working to see
A brighter tomorrow where together we’ll be
The poets and prophets and priests and kings and queens
Of a better more beautiful world where we all can be free

Photo by Nikoloz Gachechiladze on Unsplash

Tag: climate change

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Umbilical Tree

Protest Song

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