This Earth Week, we invited the members of our online community to contribute lines to a growing collective poem on the concept of #EarthRise. Celebrated writer and youth advocate Nadira Hira expertly arranged the responses into the poem below, a fitting conclusion to an invigorating Earth Week and a beautiful tribute to collective action for the planet.
Enjoy!
#EarthRise
Like the moon every night,
as the tides of the oceans move,
youth arise, the Earth awakens—
shall we let go of our blindness, and see?
Waste killing the world,
as forests fall and glaciers melt
on mountains grand.
We cannot continue to incinerate our home.
All we need is the beauty of this place,
freedom to love our planet.
If we listen, we can understand—
we can hear it in water, in wood, and even in stone.
From Earth we grow;
its marvelous design
can heal all wounds.
My mother, my heart,
who sacrifices everything,
I would work for a sustainable planet—
trans-generational sustainability,
renewable energy that will change the whole system of our lives,
a new and clean Earth
healing from its ecological disguise.
Listen to the Earth’s plea,
together as one—
what a world we live in!
A living being,
a home for all—
take care of her.
Earth is calling,
we must respond—
I can, you can, they can,
our generation and more to come.
It’s time to build.
Slow is fast and fast is smooth:
Sit still. Observe. Rest. Admire and revere.
Help each other,
because unity gives us power and diversity gives us strength.
We can write our story on a new page,
the dawn of a new era, looking into the future
with new appreciation.
Someday we’ll touch Mars,
saying that was the moment, that was the start.
We share today for tomorrow’s children—
may every sunset bring us closer to a better sunrise.
#EarthRise.
