By: Edmund Weisberg

The assignment given, with two whole days.
Calamities rise! Pupils face the grade.
Nature as topic, spurred by the sun’s rays.
Addressing climate change, alas, forbade.

The glistening sol nourishes us all.
Erudite pedagogues await the verse.
Less than 12 years to act, as people fall.
Prior flops and judgments, perhaps no curse.

Daughters, sons strive, cling to Life ‘neath the sun.
The due date, their Deadline, appears to lurk.
When facing such burdens, can there be fun?
Teachers pour over the sought-after work.

Youth labor, ape fiddling, as the world burns.
Must they strike to show how the life force yearns?