POETRY

There is a new species on the scene

Another miracle of evolution

Like you and like me

Black pelicans in a black see

Covered in oil and tar

They are unable to clean it off

And trying to remove it

They swallow it

Their matted feathers

Make it impossible to fly

They have no food

Cut off from air and sunlight

The vegetation and fish are dead

The pelicans are also dying a slow and painful death

They will soon be extinct

And the impact will only get worse

It is awful and heartbreaking

It puts a big knot in my stomach

This time,

There is no drunken captain to blame

No one deliberately did this

But it was an accident waiting to happen

Make no mistake, friends!

This is the fault of you and me

It is a by-product of greed

The insatiable appetitive for oil

For not knowing our limits

For bigger and better things

And for more and more

Alas, our lifestyle burns a lot of oil

-Rotterdam, Netherlands