POETRY
Letter to a Young Climate Activist
A poem
Trigger warning: this poem was written for a young friend and activist, who recently lost a 22 year old friend, also an ardent climate campaigner, to suicide.
For Ella
At times like these,
words only come up short —
not much to say in the face of such senseless loss,
emptiness so deep.
Your rage is not misplaced.
Though you are rightly distraught,
your braveness rouses ancestors from sleep.
Please know that you are held in the hearts of many,
and that your friend’s precious life was not in vain.
He is with the universe now,
so not, perhaps, so very far away.
I’m sorry these dark clouds have gathered around you
and though I would not be so foolish as to give advice,
I also know that while the dark can shape and mould and give new life,
too much can douse and smother, and extinguish soulful light.
These things you know: stay rooted in your joy;
whatever makes your heart light up, go there.
You are young and bright and beautiful,
and of the tides of hope and hopelessness,
hope is ever stronger than despair.
The outlook may be rough, but all’s to play for,
and the following is, I’ll venture, true:
we exist in a cosmos of unknowable vastness and beauty,
this planet is a miracle,
that we are alive at all is a miracle,
and you are a miracle, too.
Life is on your side: do not lose sight of this.
A blessing on the favourable wind that carries you along.
You can, and will, and must keep going on.
‘And flow like the water…’ — E.E.
If you are affected by suicide or despair, please call The Samaritans on 116123 in the UK, or the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline on 988 in the US. Help is available.
With immense love and respect for the deceased and his family. R.I.P. Xavi
This story has not been placed behind the meter wall. Thank you for reading 🖤
