In honor of the Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday and the big screen debut of his beloved children’s tale, “The Lorax,” a cautionary poem:
At the far end of town, where the Grickle-grass grew
Gather the Swommee-Swans with the Brown Bar-ba-loots.
Nearby the Humming-Fish stand in their pond
A H2O shortage of which they’re not fond.
Anger is what brought together this crowd.
Their voices, start silent, and then grow quite loud,
They march toward the edge of the barren landscape,
Up a hill, round the corner, till at a door they wait.
At first there is chaos, disorder and madness.
Who should speak and share their unspeakable sadness?
Then a small Bar-ba-loot shouts out loud and clear,
The others fall silent so they too can hear.
“We come for the one who once spoke for the trees,
who gave us all voices, and hated all Thneeds.
You’ve filled up your soul with greed and pretension,
And that’s why we’re here for this intervention.
The organic foods and pancakes are all very fine,
But cable and SUVs now that’s crossing a line.
What happened to sustainability, sharing, compassion?
Because of your greed we’re now having to ration.
With more and more merchandise piling up on your plate,
Now it’s me, me, me and take, take, take.
If someone like you no longer cares a whole awful lot,
It does beg the question, ‘What chance have we got?’”
With that she is finished, that brave Bar-ba-loot,
She is followed by silence, but then comes a hoot.
It quickly is followed by a holler and yawp.
The Humming-Fish sing and the Swommee-Swans sway,
With those few simple words something changed this day.
That small Bar-ba-loot, what ideas she’s imparted,
Have begun to spread, a revolution has started.
No sign of the Lorax, they depart from that place,
In search of some others who value this space.
There’s plenty of them, and they’ll reclaim their lives,
With our help and some patience nature will survive.
If the Lorax won’t care, well that’s just too bad,
There’s power in numbers, and for that we’ll be glad.
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More on the Story: Reuters.com
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