Six Years Left

Six Years Left

I hear the clock ticking

Louder and louder every day 

“We have very little time,” it ticks

“So little time,” it does not stop

24 years

12 years

6 years

Six years before the planet 

Is irreparably changed

Six years to stop 

The water from rising

The fires from spreading

The ice from melting

We have six years

And what do we do?

We go to work

We watch TV

We make promises

But we do nothing

We turn the music up 

We go shopping for purses

We drive our cars

And focus on our money

When the floods come

Will we float on our money?

Will we breathe it in

Like the oxygen we had

Before we decimated the forests?

Like the fresh sweet tonic

That was all of ours

Before we injected it with fossil fuel

How will the money feel in our lungs?

Full or regret?

Bitter, sad, desperate

Dirty?

Six years before sea levels rise

And wipe out entire countries

Six years before our soil and water

Is contaminated with salt

We have six years 

And what do we do?

We do nothing

When the forests are gone

The animals extinct

When there are no resources left

To extract and exploit

What will life look like?

The billionaires may be on the moon

But we’ll be here

Will everything be colorless and dull

Will we live underground

Drinking filtered salty, sewer water?

Is that what we want?

We have six years

Tick tock - tick tock

Indigenous peoples have a belief

That we have to think every decision

Through seven generations ahead

To ensure life for our children

And our children’s children

At least this point,

I don’t know

If we’ll make it even

Two generations ahead

What will the world be like for my son?

We have six years left 

So I ask you

What do we do?