Brave New World

A boy stands on the farmhouse porch
And looks across the land
The earth is red, the dams are dry
“No rain again, just sand”

Far fewer cattle graze here now
They’ve all been shipped to town
“My boy, it’s gone on far too long
This drought has brought us down”

“The weather’s not the same no more”
He grumbles to his son
“It’s far too hot and dry to farm
I’ve given up…we’re done”

A girl stands barefoot in the sea
That laps now at the door
Her home is close to being swamped
There’s water on the floor

For fourteen years she’s lived here
Growing up and learning skills
But now the elders say, at church
The sea will reach the sills

With polar icecaps melting
As the temperature goes higher
The level of all seas creeps up
And soon will douse the fire

The boy looks over at the girl
He sighs and bows his head
Cos they both see, was long foretold
The world they knew is dead

If only they had acted
When they all still had the choice
But now it’s far too late to try
To alter Nature’s voice

This story takes place years from now
Unless… all adults act
And make decisions, take the steps
So temperatures contract

For all the children of the world
Who’ve yet to live their life
Let’s do what must be done to stop
Our planet taking strife