20th July 2020
Will we, in future years,
Be calling this The Rainbow Summer?
The Rainbow Summer, because of how that many-coloured arc,
Drawn and painted by our blameless children,
Has shone loud messages of gratitude
Out across silent streets and lanes.
That wouldn’t be a bad outcome…
Provided we didn’t forget the rainbow’s tradition
As symbol of hope –
And to blazes with greed-encouraging pot of gold myths!
I would love the rainbow to become
A shared symbol of human aspiration,
Replacing those national flags
To which stiff necked side-taking can so unpleasantly adhere.
Yes – let the rainbow represent new ambitions,
Shared by all people:
New ambitions for this terrifyingly undervalued Earth
WHICH IS NOT OURS.
Ambitions putting Earth first, which at last acknowledge that,
With out any maybes,
Unless we do put our Mother Planet first,
And forget mad-moneyed plans for the Moon and Mars,
Redirecting our rocket efforts
To saving forests and cleaning all air, land, and water…
Unless, in all matters,
We put our Mother Planet first,
There will quite soon only be
A Rainbow For All Endings,
A spectrum of ever more carbon-darkened greys –
Which I picture some visiting intelligence in future years
Scorching with scorn
Onto our, and Nature’s, single shared memorial stone.
© Christopher Jessop 2020
