Look a little closer- by Snigdha Tibrewal

A little birdie told me

To stop staring at walls

For once to look out and see

The dense trees that fill up the amazon

Deserts that are home to bushes

With thorns

The banyan tree which covers the playground

Even the potted plants in the verandah

Of your house

They may just look like plants and trees

But they are the real biodiversity

And without them we cannot breathe

Or it may be the lion that roars in the grasslands

The toucan that sits on the tree

The friendly peacock that comes out when it rains

Or the bees that pollinate

The carnations and daisies

Otherworldly creatures they must just seem

But they are the real biodiversity

And from millions of ecosystems

To the food on our plate

We depend on them you see

The polar ice caps and deserts

Forests and coral reefs

And every little microorganism

That crawls on their feet

They are all a part of the real biodiversity

From absorbing pollutants

To increasing ecosystem productivity

From climate stability

To giving us from natural disasters a speedy recovery

Survival of humanity

You see

Goes hand in hand with conserving biodiversity

The tree, the plant, the creatures and us

We are all one community

One life form

Why can’t we see?