Let Them Not Say by Jane Hirshfield

Let them not say:   we did not see it.
We saw.

Let them not say:   we did not hear it.
We heard.

Let them not say:   they did not taste it.
We ate, we trembled.

Let them not say:   it was not spoken, not written.
We spoke,
we witnessed with voices and hands.

Let them not say:  they did nothing.
We did not-enough.

Let them say, as they must say something: 

A kerosene beauty.
It burned.

Let them say we warmed ourselves by it,
read by its light, praised,
and it burned.

Happy 51st Earth Day with Earthrise by Amanda Gorman

The following poem by Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the United States Amanda Gorman was read from stage at the Los Angeles Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training on Tuesday, August 28, 2018. You can view Amanda reciting the poem with this YouTube video.

Our Purpose in Poetry:

Or, Earthrise

Dedicated to Al Gore and The Climate Reality Project 

On Christmas Eve, 1968, astronaut Bill Anders 

Snapped a photo of the earth

As Apollo 8 orbited the moon.

Those three guys 

Were surprised

To see from their eyes

Our planet looked like an earthrise

A blue orb hovering over the moon’s gray horizon, 

with deep oceans and silver skies. 

It was our world’s first glance at itself 

Our first chance to see a shared reality, 

A declared stance and a commonality; 

A glimpse into our planet’s mirror,

And as threats drew nearer,

Our own urgency became clearer,

As we realize that we hold nothing dearer 

than this floating body we all call home. 

We’ve known

That we’re caught in the throes

Of climactic changes some say

Will just go away,

While some simply pray

To survive another day;

For it is the obscure, the oppressed, the poor, 

Who when the disaster

Is declared done,

Still suffer more than anyone. 

Climate change is the single greatest challenge of our time, 

Of this, you’re certainly aware.

It’s saddening, but I cannot spare you

From knowing an inconvenient fact, because

It’s getting the facts straight that gets us to act and not to wait. 

So I tell you this not to scare you, 

But to prepare you, to dare you 

To dream a different reality, 

Where despite disparities

We all care to protect this world,

This riddled blue marble, this little true marvel 

To muster the verve and the nerve

To see how we can serve

Our planet. You don’t need to be a politician

To make it your mission to conserve, to protect, 

To preserve that one and only home

That is ours,

To use your unique power

To give next generations the planet they deserve. 

We are demonstrating, creating, advocating 

We heed this inconvenient truth, because we need to be anything but lenient

With the future of our youth. 

And while this is a training,

in sustaining the future of our planet, 

There is no rehearsal. The time is 

Now

Now

Now, 

Because the reversal of harm,

And protection of a future so universal 

Should be anything but controversial. 

So, earth, pale blue dot 

We will fail you not. 

Just as we chose to go to the moon 

We know it’s never too soon

To choose hope.

We choose to do more than cope 

With climate change 

We choose to end it—

We refuse to lose.

Together we do this and more

Not because it’s very easy or nice

But because it is necessary,

Because with every dawn we carry

the weight of the fate of this celestial body orbiting a star. 

And as heavy as that weight sounded, it doesn’t hold us down, 

But it keeps us grounded, steady, ready, 

Because an environmental movement of this size 

Is simply another form of an earthrise. 

To see it, close your eyes.

Visualize that all of us leaders in this room

and outside of these walls or in the halls, all

of us changemakers are in a spacecraft,

Floating like a silver raft

in space, and we see the face of our planet anew.

We relish the view;

We witness its round green and brilliant blue,

Which inspires us to ask deeply, wholly:

What can we do?

Open your eyes.

Know that the future of

this wise planet

Lies right in sight:

Right in all of us. Trust

this earth uprising.

All of us bring light to exciting solutions never tried before

For it is our hope that implores us, at our uncompromising core, 

To keep rising up for an earth more than worth fighting for. 

Spring by Rumi

Again, the violet bows to the lily.
Again, the rose is tearing off her gown!

The green ones have come from the other world,
tipsy like the breeze up to some new foolishness.

Again, near the top of the mountain
the anemone’s sweet features appear.

The hyacinth speaks formally to the jasmine,
“Peace be with you.” “And peace to you, lad!
Come walk with me in this meadow.”

Again, there are sufis everywhere!

The bud is shy, but the wind removes
her veil suddenly, “My friend!”

The Friend is here like water in the stream,
like a lotus on the water.

The narcissus winks at the wisteria,
“Whenever you say.”

And the clove to the willow, “You are the one
I hope for.” The willow replies, “Consider
these chambers of mine yours. Welcome!”

The apple, “Orange, why the frown?”
“So that those who mean harm
will not see my beauty.”

The ringdove comes asking, “Where,
where is the Friend?”

With one note the nightingale
indicates the rose.

Again, the season of Spring has come
and a spring-source rises under everything,
a moon sliding from the shadows.

Many things must be left unsaid, because it’s late,
but whatever conversation we haven’t had
tonight, we’ll have tomorrow.

(translation by Coleman Barks)