There is no denying what a pollutant can be—
A physical, chemical, or biological enemy.
It renders the pure hazardous and unfit,
While bacteria and viruses follow close behind it.
In high concentrations, it steals away breath,
Bringing sickness, decay, and the shadow of death.
It creeps through the food chain to poison the seas,
Spoiling the crops and the fruit of the trees.
The chimneys of factories and hearths of the home
Burn coal and burn oil under heaven’s wide dome.
Engines of cars, of buses, and planes,
Choke up the skies with dark, dusty stains.
Carbon accumulates, heavy and grey,
Blocking the stomata, stealing the day.
Sulfur dioxide reacts with the air,
Melting the stonework and leaving leaves bare.
Even the bonfire that burns in the yard
Strikes at our health with a poisonous shard.
Plastic and trash throw a terrible smoke,
Three hundred times worse than the cigarettes spoke.
Cyanide, dioxins, and lead join the chase,
Releasing their fumes in a toxic embrace;
Lead enters the flesh and refuses to part,
To wither the brain and to heavy the heart.
The main sources of water pollution arise
Where rivers meet runoff beneath weeping skies.
Sewage and chemicals spill from the shore,
Disrupting the balance of life evermore.
The streams turn to poison, the clean waters fade,
As nature pays dearly for the choices we’ve made.
