Nottingham (United Kingdom)

Daria Paterek

Confession

Once there were trees, 
And oceans that were blue, 
And a sky that was clear. 
Yet you had no idea, 
The wrath that would appear.

Then there were humans,
And power and money.
And we couldn’t share it – no,
We were greedy.

Others had land that embodied beauty.
Envy boiled in our veins.
So, we took their land
And in doing so, we left you barren.

We were proud of what we had achieved.
We held pride in our factories, our cars, our mansions,
Our wars, our meat, our waste.

And when we had you on your knees,
We stripped you of all you had.
Your animals, your trees, your minerals.
But we weren’t done. We wanted more
And more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more.
We were gluttonous.

We loved the power we held,
How we were able to slay you to fit our demands.
And whilst we weren’t loving you enough,
We lusted after what you had.

Then we fought, cried, rioted.
We tried to save you. But it was too late.
So, we became sloths.

And now that you are stripped dry,
No one bats an eye,
And as you slowly die,
We have no tears to cry.

Daria Paterek is a second-year English student at The University of Nottingham. She is most passionate about sustainability, and hopes to use her writing to spread messages about the current climate emergency.