If Tomorrow Comes

Our summer vacations were the best;
We danced with glee to the buzzing tunes of the bees;
The flowers never worried about winter;
A vivid spring was there to welcome the bees.

We grew wise, established new states, invented new methods;
An age of innovation, creativity was the answer;
We competed against ourselves to develop new technologies;
Life became easier;
At the snap of a finger, lights could go off;
Watching movies in driverless cars, a theatre on wheels making the long journey short.

Is the journey really becoming short?
The science is undeniable;
I need not a graph or chart to understand the climate crisis;
I simply look out the window.

The world is chaos;
From the plains to the Sahara;
Yet amidst the gloom,

Mother Nature cannot afford the luxury of wallowing in sorrow and lamentation;
The time has come for the world to stop agonizing and to start organizing;
organizing ourselves into becoming responsible citizens and bearers of the future.

Leaders have sat under the gloom of the yellowish moonlight;
Committed to net-zero carbon emissions;
Funds will be forked out to carbon-neutral investment portfolios;
A billion trees planted;
Initiatives to protect forests and safeguard water supplies are being put in place;
The teapot of Africa whistling the Climate Change Bill boiling in it;

Ready to purify SI 134 of 2019;
These steps are all pivotal – but they are not sufficient.

Improving the world’s capability is no longer a matter of more technical assistance;
It takes the right society;
A society willing to work hard and carry themselves in achieving their dreams by collectively sharing sustainable ideas;
Deniers and major emitters are out in open, flying high above us;
Their disposals polluting our environment;
We won’t fold our hands and wait for Aide;
We the youth should take a stand to jolt the world and accelerate action on an even larger scale.

The future is for us, its calling;
Even if we heed to answer it;
We will get there?
The grim cold of the Arctic crippling Otione`s nerve system, death befalling him on an alien plateau, buried in deep snow;
The scorching African sun smearing Mahatma’s dense skin into foliated chunks, exposing him to its violent rays, death became inevitable, far away from the rice fields, back home;
Are we going to see the future; or will our grandchildren know of white Rhinos, leopards, black Rhinos, elephants with tusks;
Or museums will be the only way to appreciate the beauty of Mother Nature left?

Every day we are reminded that in less than 10 & a half years the Sustainable Development Goals will indeed be history;
A new millennium will be born;
As we pause on the age of achieving the set SDGs we should both celebrate and reflect;
Celebrate the change programs our youth are setting out;
Reflect on who we are; where we came from and ultimately where we are heading.

The best tribute we can pay to the past is to make sure that the years that lie ahead will just be as fruitful; yielding even more;
The future is particularly important for us, youth, because it invites, as it did our founders;
To secure progress of social justice, gender equality and economic development in the world of today and tomorrow.

Our local leaders, Pan Africanists, Environmentalists, Millennials, world leaders and you too;
Science tells us that on our current path, we face at least 3C of global heating;
Heating of our crops, dearests living with Albinism, water sources, by the end of the century;
You may not be there, but your grandchildren and my children will be there;
Refuse to be an accomplice in the destruction of our only home;
WE LOVE THE EARTH! IT IS OUR HOME; IT IS OUR PLANET!

The values we choose;
Shape our lives;
We have a long way to go;
But, the journey has just begun and;
It’s calling;
There is no room for spectators, `Earth` has already received more than a million views on YouTube;
Earth needs actors and drivers of change;
Climate change is real;
And If tomorrow comes;
Will the past resurface with the plans of our mobs?
We can’t say goodbye to our todays luxuries;
It will only be our greatest worry tomorrow, in the future;
Very little things are written by my simple pen;
Many enormous, vast mysteries are left undeciphered.

Seek ye first environmental sustainability and the rest will come later.

Poem By Tapiwa Bengewa
Lower six student at Gokomere High School