Recently I attended the climate strike in Sydney, inspired by the amazing young people who took me along from their school. They had so much more awareness of global, national and ecological matters than I had at that age. I had a sign reading “Be Pro-Life! Save Our Common Home; Pope Francis LS 5, 79” and bumped into another Laudato Si-wielding banner-holder I knew from the Young Christian Worker movement. Also another Sister of Mercy along with the crowds of strangers in that mass of positive and engaged people from all ages and walks of life. Later, after watching Greta’s powerful speech at the UN, I wrote this:

 

InGretable

It was a funny kind of sunshine
made of angry, poignant words,
when the ghost of christmas past
wore braids and held the banner
for nerds who still believed in science
and truth and drew the line
and cast this pure indictment
in a manner we could not fail to understand.
She was too wise for tact
and we writhed in her defiance
of the adults’ world’s utter failing
to act when we were meant
to heal our planet now gasping
and, damned by our Creator,
we’re flailing all together
in this dark ocean and rasping
out our death-throes though we see
only later also how we’ve almost killed
our mother and with no more
feet or land on which to stand we’ll risk
eternity unforgiven.
But just before the breath was stilled
and we went down with all creation,
we glimpsed her funny kind of sunshine,
this brisk breeze to wake to
and be driven now to courage, animation.