Ban Ki-moon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore kicked off the UN Climate Leaders Summit with strong calls for climate action, but it was a mother’s poem to her six-month-old daughter that triggered a standing ovation from the U
<p>dear matafele peinam,<br />
you are a seven month old sunrise of gummy smiles<br />
you are bald as an egg and bald as the buddha<br />
you are thunder thighs and lightning shrieks<br />
so excited for bananas, hugs and<br />
our morning walks past the lagoon<br />
dear matafele peinam,<br />
I want to tell you about that lagoon<br />
that lucid, sleepy lagoon lounging against the sunrise<br />
some men say that one day<br />
that lagoon will devour you<br />
they say it will gnaw at the shoreline<br />
chew at the roots of your breadfruit trees<br />
gulp down rows of your seawalls<br />
and crunch your island’s shattered bones<br />
they say you, your daughter<br />
and your granddaughter, too<br />
will wander rootless<br />
with only a passport to call home<br />
dear matafele peinam,<br />
don’t cry<br />
mommy promises you<br />
no one<br />
will come and devour you<br />
no greedy whale of a company sharking through<br />
political seas<br />
no backwater bullying of businesses with broken morals no blindfolded<br />
bureaucracies gonna push<br />
this mother ocean over<br />
the edge<br />
no one’s drowning, baby<br />
no one’s moving<br />
no one’s losing<br />
their homeland<br />
no one’s gonna become<br />
a climate change refugee<br />
or should i say<br />
no one else<br />
to the carteret islanders of papua new guinea<br />
and to the taro islanders of Fiji<br />
I take this moment<br />
to apologize to you<br />
we are drawing the line here<br />
because baby we are going to fight<br />
your mommy daddy<br />
bubu jimma your country and president too<br />
we will all fight<br />
and even though there are those<br />
hidden behind platinum titles<br />
who like to pretend<br />
that we don’t exist<br />
that the Marshall Islands<br />
Tuvalu<br />
Kiribati<br />
Maldives<br />
and typhoon haiyan in the Philippines<br />
and floods of Pakistan, Algeria, and Colombia<br />
and all the hurricanes, earthquakes, and tidalwaves<br />
didn’t exist<br />
still<br />
there are those<br />
who see us<br />
hands reaching out<br />
fists raising up<br />
banners unfurling<br />
megaphones booming<br />
and we are<br />
canoes blocking coal ships<br />
we are<br />
the radiance of solar villages<br />
we are<br />
the rich clean soil of the farmer’s past<br />
we are<br />
petitions blooming from teenage fingertips<br />
we are<br />
families biking, recycling, reusing,<br />
engineers dreaming, designing, building,<br />
artists painting, dancing, writing<br />
we are spreading the word<br />
and there are thousands out on the street<br />
marching with signs<br />
hand in hand<br />
chanting for change NOW<br />
they’re marching for you, baby<br />
they’re marching for us<br />
because we deserve to do more than just<br />
survive<br />
we deserve<br />
to thrive<br />
dear matafele peinam,<br />
you are eyes heavy<br />
with drowsy weight<br />
so just close those eyes, baby<br />
and sleep in peace<br />
because we won’t let you down<br />
you’ll see</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Poet & activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner moved world leaders at the <a href="https://twitter.com/UN">@UN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Climate2014?src=hash">#Climate2014</a> summit to tears. WATCH: <a href="http://t.co/8KmlGSGx7U">http://t.co/8KmlGSGx7U</a></p>
— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeoDiCaprio/status/515223323194978304">September 25, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner brought down the house at the UN this week. Her message to you? <a href="http://t.co/ps5mbRjp67">http://t.co/ps5mbRjp67</a> <a href="http://t.co/66hfwIKQcq">pic.twitter.com/66hfwIKQcq</a></p>
— 350 dot org (@350) <a href="https://twitter.com/350/status/515293067830902784">September 26, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Poet and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/climatechange?src=hash">#climatechange</a> activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner moves <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNGA?src=hash">#UNGA</a> to tears at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Climate2014?src=hash">#Climate2014</a> summit <a href="http://t.co/cJdCvoDQGx">http://t.co/cJdCvoDQGx</a></p>
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) <a href="https://twitter.com/UNICEF/status/514929770896052224">September 25, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>She marched. And then she moved the world to tears. Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner <a href="https://twitter.com/Climate2014Live">@Climate2014Live</a> today: <a href="http://t.co/A2h2WPHizC">pic.twitter.com/A2h2WPHizC</a></p>
— TckTckTck (@tcktcktck) <a href="https://twitter.com/tcktcktck/status/514423771705659392">September 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Marshall Islands speaker tells U.N. 'we are drawing the line here' on climate change <a href="http://t.co/jZlJaK0K5R">http://t.co/jZlJaK0K5R</a> <a href="http://t.co/xxuB7cvA0q">pic.twitter.com/xxuB7cvA0q</a></p>
— Climate Progress (@climateprogress) <a href="https://twitter.com/climateprogress/status/514499333732192256">September 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p> </p>
