breathing the air in sydney
is equivalent to smoking
34 cigarettes a day
the blue sky city
no longer
blanketed in toxic smog
a bleak prediction for the summer
not much christmas joy about this year
a pall lies over the mall
nero fiddled
while rome burned
no string accompaniment
for australia's incineration
only hacking coughs and warnings
to stay inside and close your windows-
thirty seven percent of the fires
are deliberately lit
change of law needed
to impose harsh sentences on arsonists
regardless of age
a change is as good as a holiday
don't think so!
winter escapees would be advised
to rethink the burning brown land
as a summer holiday destination
Midweek Motif - Poets United
Just landed in Sydney for an overnight stop before I head back to London and WOW!!! The sky is yellow with bush fire smoke, the city is choking right now. I've never seen anything like this before!
joel speed
(This photo was taken at 4pm, it's 33C outside, it should be bright sun
) – at Sydney Airport (SYD)
Bondi Beach
Rethink it, indeed. Change of sky, location, law--or other changes in health ensue. And sue. It's a deadly story your poem tells, and very well.
ReplyDeleteOh Rall, the burning koalas, especially, have been breaking my heart. Its is APPALLING to know humans actually cause some of this desecration. It is bad enough when it is climate change. The suffering! Your poem is important. It tells a story of humanity gone wrong. I want to hope we can make a great turning, but fear we have waited too long.
ReplyDeleteNot only Sydney it can as well be New Delhi. Mankind is hell bent on writing horror stories. Sigh. Progress has brought about this change perhaps.
ReplyDeleteSadly it is our own fault as Australians are hell bent on electing governments who care not for climate, health of rivers and seas and the wildlife that goes with them, so long as we can continue to sell fossil fuels to other countries that we are gradually giving up ourselves. It is madness to have coal fired power generators when we have an abundance of sun and wind power available.
ReplyDeleteIt’s going to be very different in London, with the dropped temperature and the chill of the election.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a lot better up here in Northern Rivers! The smoke haze has been here for weeks and some fires have not gone out the whole time.
ReplyDeleteIt saddens me to see the climatic state of the world. I hope that mankind takes necessary steps and that things get better. Sigh ..
ReplyDeleteThis kind of change no one needs.
ReplyDelete