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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Reader Submitted Poetry

Hi alfredo. It's Helen. I had to write a poem for school on an injustice. I did it about the mangroves. My mom told me to send it to you, so here it is.


People don't notice the mangroves,
They are blind to the fish that swim between their roots,
To the birds that perch on their branches,
And to the clean blue water that surrounds the trees.

People don't notice the mangroves,
They see a "wasteland" to develop,
A useless swamp to turn into a road,
A place to farm shrimp and then to abandon.

People don't notice the mangroves,
Gone are the mangroves of Uran,
They cut down the trees and the fishing villages died,
The birds are silent and the water is dirtied,
The soil erodes and CO2 is released to poison the sky.

People should notice the mangroves,
They should protect the trees, not kill them,
Before there are no mangroves left not to notice.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Helen,

    This is a beautiful poem! Congratulations!
    May I have your permission to print it and distribute to school children in Ecuador? If you agree, I will need your complete name so people know who wrote it.
    Keep up the good work!

    Thank you very much,

    Acacia Alcivar Warren
    Fundacion para la Conservacion de la Biodiversidad Acuatica y Terrestre de Ecuador (FUCOBI)
    Guayaquil, Ecuador

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Helen

    I really appreciated your poem and the message it sends regarding the importance of conserving mangroves.
    I live in Fiji and a group of us are fighting against a "development" project proposal which, if approved, will lead to the destruction of 30 acres of mangroves!
    Would it be possible for me to use your poem to raise awareness.
    If you would agree I would need to know your name, your school, your country and your age.
    My name is Tim Howick-Smith and the name of our group is the Bay of Islands Preservation Group.
    My e-mail address is: tim_howick_smith@yahoo.com.

    Thank you.
    Tim

    ReplyDelete

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