

Anaya Sheth, Class 6, JG International School, Ahmedabad
The deer all ducked their heads,
The fish were all fully fed,
The vibrant plants all thrived,
The humans used me with all their might.
I was the cause of all the bliss,
A compassionate giver, I believed myself to be.
Dancing through,
Full of life, wild and free.
Now I am dying,
Poisoned by the human’s greed.
How I long to get a gift for myself,
Other than all the pollution and mess.
I give the most precious treasure of all,
Worth more than diamond and gold.
Life itself survives because of me,
Yet humans ruined me with plastic and filth.
I am the heart and soul,
Of the body of life.
Yet I am so often wasted,
Can’t humans realise?
I am a mother,
But I never get a warm embrace.
Why?
O why?
I cry.
My song is a sad sermon,
But there are none so blind as those who won’t see my sorrow,
There are none so deaf as those who won’t hear my woes.
August, 2025