Jay's Letter

My older self,

Dear future me,
I do hope this finds you well.
I hope you are still a able to get out for your walks amongst the natural world you love so much.
I'm curious to know: are there still butterflies, marbled whites with the wings that look as if they they've been inked on, flying through the meadows.
Does the skylark still make it's presence felt over the fields?
Can you still hear the cuckoo in the spring after its amazing journey from Africa.
At night, do you still hear the owls call and the foxes bark?
Are there still hedgehogs? I haven't seen one in my garden for the past two years.
Are there still magnificent creatures in our oceans? That travel miles and are still so unknown to us.
Do the bees still buzz around the newly opened flowers in the spring?
And is the dawn chorus still the chorus that it was? Or is it quietened by fewer participants?
Do the Swift's still scream in the skies during the short time they are here?
Are there still our native trees in the countryside, or are the summers too hot for them now?
Can we still grow our staple foods like wheat in the fields.
If it's not, then I'm so sorry. For you and the world, for my son's future. We begged for people to take notice. We protested, we campaigned. We fought.
Though the fight didn't start early enough.
We knew the natural world was in trouble. Long before it was a thing.
Cars, roads, money, property, business, all of these things are prioritised above the natural world.
But we need nature, as you well know.
We need it to feed our soul. To reset our minds. We need it to deal with the busy lives we have today.
We need it to remind us of who we truly are and we need it simply to survive.
From me, hoping this finds you well.