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Worlds End Competition
Runners-Up
Bozarts received wonderful poems and anthems for Worlds End Competition, each showing remarkable talent and creativity. While only one winner could be selected for each section, we want to celebrate the submissions that stood out for their quality.
Poetry Runners-Up
Set to Holst
We All Need
Martin Rieser
We all need a world’s that’s safe for us, that nourishes all life
a world free from disaster, a world that’s free from strife.
We are losing to the careless, to the advance of greed,
catering to an age of oil, to wealth and not to need.
We all need a better future, a space for all to grow,
a space for us to thrive, where the sun will kindly rise
Many years into the future they will speak of how we lived
as if the Earth was limitless, with endless gifts to give.
How we lost species to our silence, food to our great neglect,
how the politicians waited or were simply circumspect
when we could have had a future, a space to grow and thrive
in a world fit for children, where a kindly sun could rise.
Rewriting Holst the Future
Helen Moore
The writer sent her text inserted following each line of the Holst original. This is the way that we have presented it, with the Holst original in italics.
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above
Now deep in climate chaos, this emergency on Earth,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love
where floods, fire, extinction threaten all that we love.
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test
The greed, corruption, oil wars that tear our lands apart,
That lays upon the altar, the dearest and the best
the rigs, drills and diggers that serve obscene profits.
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price
They want us to sit quietly, make us turn blind eyes,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice
asking of our wellbeing the final sacrifice.
​
And there's another country, I've heard of long ago
Yet there’s another vision, of how it all could be
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know
if hive mind embraced it, built it with one giant heart.
We may not count her armies, we may not see her king
A world of love and justice, a world of global peace
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering
where we tend our ecosystems, our communities as well.
And soul by soul, and silently her shining bounds increase
By soul and soil, and steadily our mighty Earth can heal,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace
As now we, laying aside division, co-operate like Bees.
If Governed by Our Greedy Wants
Alan Mansell
If governed by our greedy wants, not what we truly need,
We are hurtling to destruction, at ever greater speed;
Leaving only to our children, poisoned land and ocean waste,
Hot blanket air that suffocates, death mask and coffin case;
So then let us follow caring ways, and in our earthly span,
Restore our world in unison, true brotherhood of man.
We talk endlessly of targets, a stuttering annual maze,
Yet we carry on regardless, towards mass extinction days,
Wrecking lungs of living forest, for a cheaper burger bun,
Burning fossil fuels, our reckless ways, trap killer heat of sun,
Come and listen now to nature’s cry, or else we must mourn loss,
Truly change embedded selfish ways, not recoat with greenwash.
We Mourn for You Our Planet
Jane Spray
We mourn for you, our planet, life’s blue and wondrous home
Where shadows fall at twilight, the tallest trees have grown
The sun that lights your oceans, the sun that makes them warm
No way we need more carbon – no shelter from the storm
To all the warring nations; firms fossil-fuelled with greed
Past time to stop your plunder – you sow a bitter seed
We stand by you, our planet, make ecocide a crime
And demand reparations, we’ve run right out of time
It’s urgent now for balance, to mitigate the harm
No way we need more carbon, no shelter from the storm
So let’s all work together, stop fossil fuels and greed
Let’s stop this awful plunder, and find a way to heal
For us, no other planet, besides this Earth we’re on
Where all life lies in balance, dependent on our sun
We cannot flee to Io, we cannot flee to Mars
Give value to the home we have, this jewel among the stars
And side by side, and steadfastly, make sure we play our part
For with Love, there is no other way, we know this in our heart
I Shall Not Weep
Tim Francis
I shall not weep, nor shall I turn away
From Gaia’s plight this day
For I heard the ocean waves’ soft plea
In the hush of dawn speak to me
Of the Gaia-cide offenders
Who shall face the world’s court now
For the plastic waste and poisons
That contaminates our lives
As our trees continue falling
So our dwellings slip away
In the mired mud where crops once grew
They have toxified our food
Then I dreamt of an arid landscape
Where seeds of justice were rightly sewn
Where those ecocide criminals infected our home
In my dream the tree leaves whispered
To the conscience of mankind
So that Mother Earth’s soul guardians would rage against their crime
And our sacred home she’d cradle
As the rivers danced with joy
So that love’s eternal harmony would be restored once more
I shall not weep, nor shall I turn away
From Gaia’s plight this day
For I heard the ocean waves’ soft plea
In the hush of dawn speak to me
My Vow
Andrew Wale
This, our home, our only certainty,
Our mother’s fruitful womb -
This our fountain of diversity,
Our cradle, and our tomb.
And I’ve faith she will recover.
And I swear we shall avenge -
All the crime and wanton cruelty
Of ecocidal men.
For their wars and their pollution,
Their carelessness and greed,
They will face our prosecution
And pay for their misdeeds.
For trees, for seas, and countryside -
Exploited and despoiled.
For the poisonous insecticides,
For coal, and gas and oil.
All industrial disasters,
CO2, synthetic waste,
Those who call themselves our masters -
Deservedly disgraced.
Time is short, the days are darker now,
Authority moves slow,
So, I raise my voice, and make my vow
To fight with heart and soul.
I Vow to Thee My Planet
Becky Donaldson
I vow to thee my planet, this precious fragile home
Whose resources are not ours to keep, whose beauty is on loan
I will cut my carbon footprint, I will pay my climate debt
But I am just a droplet, in oceans of regret
As no matter all the things I do, my efforts are in vain
If such changes don’t reach those in power, we’ll never break the chain
For there’s no other planet, no other place to go
No more options once the Earth has gone, that little do we know
And it’s those who are the poorest who first will pay the price
But your profits won’t protect you, when oceans start to rise
So we call on those with influence, whose acts could turn the tide
Listen to our planet crying out, and stop this ecocide
Though I Vowed to Thee My Country
Kimwei McCarthy
Though I vowed to thee, my country, all earth and all I love,
said “you’re under my protection and you are what I serve”
I should have asked more questions, should have stood up to protest;
I let the storms and fires take my dearest and my best.
I have failed you and I’ve faltered, turned away and payed the price:
all I love I am losing - I find I’ve sacrificed.
And in another country they’ve lost more than I know:
most dear to them were taken by the water long ago;
we may not count their voices, we may not hear them ring;
let us grieve faithful hearts, just as our suffering.
And soul by soul and silently the quiet loss increased:
all the planet’s ways of gentleness and all her paths to peace.
Set to Tallis
Orb Fertile Ploughed
Alan Mansell
Orb fertile ploughed regal path,
gem, angels did admire,
life’s hub amidst gas giants cold,
now blazing, raging fire.
Unnumbered named this Earth their home, claimed they loved very dear,
in rampant greed gnawed to bare bone, rode its funeral bier.
Processing Moon in orbit wept
tides’ tears had tried in vain,
to quench mad dragon’s breath of death,
knight’s lance to searing pain.
For fossil fuels it did exhale, choking the atmosphere,
sad consequence left a bereft and lifeless, spinning sphere.
Oh Restless Earth
Steven Davies
You dredge the seas, evict the poor
Waging your brutal war
You rape the earth then try to hide
Guilty of ecocide!
All natural laws you break or flout
Your travesties just mount
With ritual lies you’re choking the skies
We hold you to account!
Oh restless earth, my precious mote
I am your seed of hope
My hope takes root, others abide
We are the rising tide
Wealth spreads like a plague, the bloated rort
To trash our life-support
It screams from the sky they try to deny
Blind corporate greed is fraught
Masters of war your day will come
When all your crimes come home
Your judgement day will bring great joy
We weep while you destroy
We’ll roll up our sleeves, rewild the trees
True work can then deploy
Why fight the great tide, come work by our side
We can make history
Terra's Eulogy
Sujatha Menon
Our battle cries break down the skies
and blood rains in our eyes
fills our mouth with caustic lies:
Leaders of the world unite
to deny the need to fight,
agree to kill the earth
for light to shine their nuclear might smothered in poison’d gold
These Gods of oil, coal and gas
declare they will amass
to run our lives very fast;
and all the while we are
glowing bright and slowly burning out of sight,
burning earth for light to shine in cups of poison’d gold.
Climate Change Anthem Runners-Up
Set to Holst
I Vow to Thee My Country
Michelle Mary Robson
I vow to thee my country and all our glorious world,
That together we shall stand up, wanting action, no more words!
Corporate giants and world governments, will destroy our future lives.
Making money from destruction, an environmental crime!
With collective voices raised up high, we’ll send this message loud,
Telling nations all around the globe,
We must stop this ECOCIDE!
Stop the fracking, stop the landfill, off shore drilling, fossil fuels.
Leave the forests to produce clean air, not methane over kill.
This is OUR world, not just your world, for our children yet to come.
There will be no world left over, if you don’t make changes now.
The clock is five to midnight, so no more time to bide.
With haste you must prevent this disastrous ECOCIDE!
Our Promise
Fiona Hamilton
We promise Earth we’ll change our ways, the truth we will not hide
We will care for you as you deserve and banish ecocide.
Ecocide that kills the planet, ecocide that drills for oil
We renounce the selfish fracking that devastates the soil.
We’ll protect the fields and forests, diversity and life
It’s our greed that makes you suffer, and now all pay the price.
Earth, we’ll show you that we love you, take action to repair
Wash the chemicals from rivers, take carbon from the air.
All together we will rally, we will challenge and protest
Calling out to those in power to urgently divest
Stop the drilling, stop extracting, make ecocide a crime
End destruction of the planet, it’s time it’s time it’s time!
You Governments and Industries
Roger Bloor
You governments and industries which caused our earth to die
who profit from pollution of earth and sea and sky
you have a case to answer, you have a charge to face
of poisoning the ecosphere with blatant disregard
for your responsibility for damage you have caused
to this our fragile planet that you have all abused.
You governments and industries who even now deny
that you profit from pollution of earth and sea and sky –
if Planet Earth could answer what would she have to say
of how you’ve killed the planet and laid the earth to waste
“My body you have plundered, my body pays the price
My body just for profit you’ve cruelly sacrificed.”
Set to Tallis
Oh Who Shall Sing?
Martin Rieser
Oh who shall sing, oh who shall speak,
those words our hearts must break?
Oh who shall cry and who shall weep,
when all our hearts must break?
For every bird and every tree, may perish all too soon.
For every fish and every crop, may perish all too soon.
Oh who foresees, oh who foresees,
the axe about to fall?
The end of things if all, if all, if all ignore the call.
Oh hold back now, oh hold back now, the evil hour to come.
If you act now, oh do act now, then we shall overcome.
Woodland Lament
Miriam Waters
Walk beside me, my woodless child.
Long shores are yours, defiled.
White winter fields, no longer wild.
Sold out, your soul’s disgrace.
No more in the wild earth’s warm embrace
Will you be safe from harm.
My love for you, child,
has brought me to shame
for what we took from you.
Now win me back my winters cold;
Harsh spring and summers mild;
Autumn’s red face, which on me smiled;
Let me come home again
Return to the country of my birth,
When I was one with earth.
My love for you, child,
has brought me to shame
for what they took from you.
Your burning brand and hail of fire,
Lay waste, your sword for hire;
Saltwater tears drown fen and mire;
Cut down both bush and briar.
Wash white your hands of all our blood,
No flood can purge your guilt.
My love for you, child,
has brought me to shame
for what we took from you.
Now phoenix rise from field no more;
Cuckoo no more will call;
Dead butterflies from skies will fall;
Shot down, the bird-song choir.
I seek in the silence for some life,
Some hope, in all this world.
My love for you, earth,
has brought me to shame,
for what we took from you.