Climate Change

It seems this may be our tomorrow,
a once lively sea of colours, an array of creatures,
burnt down to blackened embers,
charred islands surrounded by parched desert,
hot, arid, uninhabitable.

This is the tomorrow we have created today,
out of selfishness and ignorance,
leaving the problem to fall
to the bottom of our agendas.
It is the flame that we ignited ourselves,
one we left to burn,
darkening the edges of our great green globe,
scorching the hairs on our stubborn legs, still fixed to the ground.

This is the flame that stands
between us and life,
a flame we refuse to extinguish,
merely watching it destroy our land, our people,
everything that has been created for us and by us.

When will we realise what we have done,
what we will cause,
what has become?

When will we stand
with those who’ve already stood,
in an effort to extinguish
this burning flame?

By E Wen Wong

Biography:

E Wen Wong is a 13 year old young poet studying at Burnside High School in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her poetry has featured in several anthologies around the world including Printable Reality (New Zealand), Rattle Poetry (US), Allegro Poetry Magazine (UK) and Meniscus Literary Journal (Australia). She has also been placed in numerous poetry competitions, most notably the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Poetry Contest. As well as poetry, E Wen holds a newly found passion for Diplomacy and International Relations, perceiving poetry and diplomacy as having the ability to introduce new perspectives and work together in ways which are mutually beneficial to their respective fields.

E Wen is responding to an issue that is growing by the day, an issue which we all seem to be ignoring and rendering small. It is the issue of climate change, which is affecting all of us.