A Poem to the World's Children by Ian McHarg (1997)

Dearest Children,
Do you know that we have inherited a miracle?
All matter, the heavens, the sun and the earth itself,
Is made from the ashes of stars,
Cycled by volcanoes, sea and air,
Clouds, rain, river, rocks and soils matter permeates us all.
Including you. Plain, smiling children now.

Exhault in this prodigious, unexpected world.
Bird song and butterflies, puppies and pandas,
foals and flowers, dappled trout and thyme.
The seasons, music, joy, laughter.
You and me joined in this improbable universe.

Recall from the mutilated and scabbed land,
foul seas, river, air, squallered slums, wastelands.
Diseased tissues on the earth.
Repudiate them.

Resolve to protect the earth as our home.
All creatures are kin, brethren, gifted with life, aching for fulfillment,
Doomed to die.
But our breath will fuel flowers.
Our tears will join the magic cycle.
Our carbon will find other homes.
Our waste will replenish.

In this sense we are immortal.
As is the earth.
We are transient.
But we can be guardians.
We can protect and restore.
And these resolve commitment, energy and art.


So you must aim to protect all that is wild and wonderous.
To heal mutilation, to salve wounds, restore the earth.
Then bequeath a better legacy, a finer future for the earth and its creatures.
For all children, now and forever more.
Make it a quest for life in gods name.
Amen.