Heat, humidity, the saltwater slick of our skin,
This is what we must get used to.
We try to stop the temperature rising
but I fear it’s too late
and that sweat is the least of our worries.
More cyclones, fires, wars- I can’t even think about it.

What will they say, your children
(not mine, they don’t exist),
when they learn how it used to be,
how we knew what was to come
and failed to stop it

We could have stopped it.
Once it seemed as if we might.
Now I fear it’s too late
and our fate
is sealed
beneath this saltwater slick.