The Mad Ecologist’s Song

(with apologies to Lewis Carroll)

Photo by Antoine GIRET on Unsplash

He thought he saw a seagull sitting
0n a rocky crag,
he looked again and saw it was
a wind-blown plastic bag,
then thousands more along the shore —
a flock of warning flags.

He thought he saw a gathering
of pretty floating birds,
he looked again and saw it was
a mass of human turds.
‘O Lord,’ said he, ‘a sewage dump,
it’s far too gross for words.’

He thought he saw a shoal of fish
silver in sparkling light,
He looked again and saw it was
an oil slick — filthy blight,
and ruined creatures, blackened, smeared.
It was a sorry sight.

He thought he saw a frill of froth
upon a sea-green wave,
he looked again and saw it was
a giant humpback’s grave.
‘Alas,’ he said, ‘I wish there were
a few that I could save.’

Original version:
http://holyjoe.org/poetry/carroll4.htm