If I told you of a place,
In a valley's green meadow with a stream flowing through where animals wander free,
Surrounded by hills and forest,
Would you like it?
I would think of it as paradise.

If I told you of the same place 10 years later,
No longer a valley's green meadow, but a housing estate, a road and a tip,
Surrounded by factories and shops,
Would you like it?
I would think of it as a disaster.

If I told you of a place,
On a coastline with golden sandy shores where fish and crabs are plenty,
Surrounded by dunes and cliffs,
Would you like it?
I would think of it as paradise.

If I told you of the same place 10 years later,
No longer with golden sands, but an oil splattered dumping ground for Sewage and Waste,
Surrounded by quarries and scrap metal,
Would you like it?
I would think of it as a disaster.

Chris McKenna 1992, Writen in middle-school tutor-room	Back to poetry index Back to main index
Copyright (C) Chris Mckenna 1992.