When I was growing up we lived in the country
My father was a cotton planter and cotton was king
Each spring the ground was plowed
The furrows were straight and long
By early summer the cotton was knee high
Blooms of white - light green and pink covered the cotton stalks
When the flowers dropped off the bolls appeared
Next the boll would open in its white beauty
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The crop dusters came in the spring in their shiny one seater planes
They had poisons of different kinds in their tank to kill the weeds and insects
Some to make the cotton grow taller
also to produce a larger yield
Late in the afternoon or early morn they did spray
The fine sticky mist covered everything
including us as we played outside
never realizing the damage it was doing to us and the environment
Before autumn arrived the planes came again
This time they sprayed to make the leaves fall off the cotton stalks
The field hands and the big picking machines striped the fields bare of everything
All that was left was wisps of cotton on broken burs and branches
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Soon we began to notice the lightening bugs didn't shine at night
Then the large white cranes that stopped at our lakes and creeks were gone
The Blue Heron who once stopped on his way down south came no more
Tadpoles and Frogs had abnormalities when they were born
Many of our friends were getting ill
It was discovered DDT being sprayed
from the planes was causing the problems
Now years later after DDT was band from use
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The lightening bug has made a come back
The black crow can be seen and heard in the early morn
The Heron visits us again
The white crane has not returned yet
The bird's eggshells are normal now
In the streams the frogs and tadpoles are healthy
Now years later many people are still sick
with different illness that are related to this careless use of insecticides
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here in our beloved South
This wonderful land that He entrusted us with
God gave us another chance to get our environment right
We must never hold with careless hands again the world He gave us