The following poem was inspired by 17-year old Peregrine Hoskins' moving speech at the Nelson climate vigil in December.
Today at a Climate Vigil
Today at a climate vigil
a teenager melted my heart,
then broke it.
I watched them
calmly and achingly
place their life dreams on a funeral pyre.
Not wanting, but needing to
let go of imagined futures
of making plans
of having mindless fun
in order to help to save our world.
I was shattered by their bravery,
upended by the grief I felt
over their loss.
I didn’t see this coming,
the unsentimental sacrifice
its tender sorrow
my own shame.
We talk of fixing this crisis
for the sake of next generations.
But here they were,
speaking from their turned-upside-down life,
not about a possible and distant loss.
But sadly, modestly
revealing what they
had already forfeited.
Another dispiriting truth:
it’s our choices
our assumed plans
that have helped cast their grievous choice.
We have lit the fire
and fanned the flames
that consume their affecting benefaction
Today at a vigil,
a teenager broke my heart,
then made it stronger.
I expect not to sleep well tonight,
but hope to stay wide awake tomorrow.
-by George Chandler
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