This Time

By Sukanya Choudhury

In a time where our Instagram feeds are
Filled with pictures of
All the Kardashians, have you spared
A moment to look up from your phones and
See the polluted air about you?
Do you see that the air that you breathe
Is not just full of toxicity of backstabbers and corruption
But also of actual toxins and chemicals?

In a time when we make use of
Masks to cover our faces
And air purifiers inside our houses,
Have you given a thought about the
Animals in the Arctic whose homes we are melting,
And the trees that are depleting day after day
And ten buildings erupting in its way?

In a time when we think it's
The new trend to upload the "healthy" food we eat
Have you ever given a thought
About the amount of chemicals you're eating
Instead of the calories,
For whether it is from a vegetable market
Or your own backyard, the
Soil is the same everywhere
And everywhere, this soil can't breathe.

In a time when our countries are
Busy in the mad scuttle to create
More and more weapons and
More and more fire power, in the name of defense
Do we not realise that if we don't look
Away from our guns and tanks
And look at the world around us,
We won't have anything to defend?

In a time when we are separated by
The way we talk, the God we pray to,
The food we eat and the colour of our skin,
Instead of building walls against our own species
And displacing people form their homes
Can we not take a minute to
Come together as inhabitants of Earth, just once
And realize that no matter how many
Rovers and spaceships we send to
The infinite beyond, this blue world is all we've got
It's time we stop trying to change the climate,
And instead,
Change ourselves.