(A poetic parable, inspired by my granddaughters, ages almost 6 and 3 ½.)
Jack & Jill came home from school,
With empty pails for water;
Buckets for the bath & shower,
To catch runaway drops like we oughta.
The showers went on, the pails went in
And each one filled right to the brim.
“Now, careful! Don’t spill,” said Jack to Jill.
And gently, gingerly they went down the hill.
When they arrived, the plants were alive,
Leaves stretching up towards the sky, where rain
Once came, bye and bye,
Until the sky…just…went…dry.
Month after month, no rainfall fell
Making the ground feel hotter than… Well,
Hotter than it’s ever been,
Drier than anyone had ever seen.
Tomatoes shriveled on the vine,
And grapes just died before their time.
No sauce for the pizza,
No wine for the palate—
Just getting through the day
Felt like being hit by a mallet.
Lawns went dry; golf courses fizzled.
All for lack of a gentle drizzle.
“We’ve got to save enough to drink,” the Gov’nor said,
“Or we shall sink.”
So farms cut back, and frackers turned blue.
Cars went dirty, and sidewalks did too,
Just being sidewalks,
Like most sidewalks do.
Sprinklers didn’t sprink,
And people didn’t even THINK
Of filling up pools,
Or being greedy fools.
The grown ups had failed,
To fill up their pails,
Or save enough water,
For sons and daughters.
So Jack and Jill, came down the hill,
Joined by classmates by the mill…
Each kid had a pail, filled with melted hail
And each plant they saw, sipped carefully through a straw.
The plants began to cheer,
“Hooray, the future’s here!”
At last, the humans have found the cure:
It’s caring for each other, simple and pure.
So while awful dolts fought over puddles and piddles,
Sensible solutions came from those who were little.
They learned about sharing and caring in school,
And new cooperation was very, very cool.
Bucket by bucket our water grew,
One million pails, now there are two.
Keep ‘em coming , Jill, Jack & Janet;
You’ll be the heroes to save our planet!