The Seine river had been unfit for swimming for a hundred years, I read
But the Paris Olympics led the authorities to spearhead
A massive cleaning plan just to allow
Olympic swimmers to swim in the river somehow..
My thoughts turned to all other rivers not as fortunate
As to have 1.5 billion dollars spent to improve their state
*
Life depends on water, yet we ignore
The elixirs of water in our hunger for more
Rivers have shaped our stories in different lands
And now our rivers are suffering at our hands..
*
Cradles of civilization historically rivers have been
The ebbs and flows of kingdoms and settlements rivers have seen
For millennia, rivers have been revered and worshipped as goddesses
While their waters have borne the brunt of our excesses..
*
Dwindling waters driven by increasing population need
Pollution levels driven up by human indifference and greed
The once abundant life forms within our rivers are dying
As more and more rivers across the world are drying..
*
Water is so essential to our existence that we continue
To search for rivers on other planets and their satellites too..
Here on earth, our precious rivers need
Our attention, and not our unbridled greed
Passion...unbridled 