We Move

Sometimes the language around sustainability can seem a little technical, which is a missed opportunity as words are such a powerful instrument for change.

In these days of uncertainty and impending climate crisis, if ever we needed transformation, it is now. So please enjoy these words written especially for us by award winning poet, Fopé Jegede. We hope they move you as they did us.

Listen to Fopé read the poem aloud:

We move.
But before we moved,
This earth has grooved to rhythms
Of its own,
Spinning, rotating, revolving,
In countless motions
We cannot see
Yet every stroke
Every gesture
Choreographs our reality.

We move.
Dynamism in our DNA
Momentum in our makeup.
Cloaked with the responsibility
Of agency, we gather,
Our rallying cries
Beckon society out of slumber
Out of stasis.
Fast-flowing, we are torrents
Yet our so-called waves of change
Threaten to drown the world
We claim to save.

We move.
But not to the pace of the planet
Then wonder why
It all feels out of sync.
We move to a beat that is
Out of time
Yet expect the ones behind
To clap along with us.
We have distorted
The Earth’s original percussion,
Taken its instruments
And noisily played over
Sounds we are supposed
To listen to.

We move. But before we moved,
This earth has grooved to
rhythms Of its own. Despite our
interference,
This rhythm is still resounding,
Aligning our feet To move to
the beat That keeps the world
in motion.

We move.
Our steps embed
Into the earth beneath us.
These steps are like a potter’s hands,
Moulding and shaping
What seems fleeting today
Into what is permanent tomorrow.
These feet are craftsmen, carving out
Pictures in the shape of footprints.
These patterns the inheritance
Of the ones behind us.

So let’s move.
With purpose
With intentionality
Responding to the invitation Of legacy
To host the ultimate event
For posterity.
To bring gifts, immaterial, yet
Crafted by our very hands.
Our touch lingers,
Our fingerprints remain,
Not washed away by gracious seas
That give shores a new canvas
Each day.

Let’s move.
From firepits to marketplaces
From city halls to grandmother’s tables,
Let’s fill these well-trodden spaces
With immeasurable traces of
Thoughts, concepts and conversations.
Make everlasting impressions For the coming generations.

Let’s move.
Let lives intertwine
And spin into new shapes
Like the intricate silk of a spider’s web.
Together, we catch the dreams Of the future
That threaten to fly away.

We move.
This time, alongside the earth
That still grooves to rhythms
Of its own.
And here we find the heartbeat Of humanity,
The echoing chorus Of a collective story.

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