Imagine a World Without Plants - A Poem by Meg Griffiths

Run by the National Literacy Trust, National Storytelling Week is a chance to wax lyrical about our passions, discover whole new worlds and celebrate the transformational power of sharing our stories. And in 2024 Plantlife are joining in to give plants and fungi a voice.
Speaking up on behalf of our plants is Species Recovery Officer Meg Griffiths, who invites us to take a moment to ‘Imagine a World Without Plants’…
Imagine a world without plants.
It's quite hard to picture,
that empty landmass all barren and rocky, silent and still,
no rustling of leaves or swishing of grass.
We'd have nothing to eat, just for starters.
No clothes on our body. No socks on our feet.
And up above us the skies would be darker,
because plants clean the air as they breathe.
A world without plants would be duller.
They colour our landscape and fill up our eyes,
and things would be quiet, no whistles or chatter.
The clouds would look down upon desert hillsides.
A world without plants would be lonely.
No badgers or birdies, no insects or snails,
eagles or otters or others besides.
Our seas would be missing the song of the whale.
Because plants have a singular talent,
a magic they solely possess.
A droplet of water with a sprinkle of sunshine,
creates life through the photosynthetic process.
And plants have been doing this since the deep times,
when mossy things covered each stone.
And simply by sharing the gifts of their magic,
they sustain every life form on our gorgeous green home.
Yes, the plants were where it all started.
The first brave pioneers moving out onto land,
They formed the first soils and reshaped the landscape.
A system of wonder sprung up from the sand.
And what would be left of the fungi?
These shapeshifting heroes we often neglect.
They've worked with the plants from the very beginning,
co-creating this beautiful, wonderful web.
The plants and the fungi sustain us.
They clean up the waters that flow,
and even the fuel that we put in our cars
is fossilized energy from plants long ago.
They spend their whole lifetimes creating spinning beauty from nothing,
a spark in the black.
And they're constantly sharing these wonderful gifts,
And when they're done living, they give everything back.
And then all that and more comes back to the next plants.
Our Earth is a generous planet,
and they leave it the richer for having lived,
the diverse life forms unfolding and thriving within it.
When I imagine a world without plants. Well, there's not much to think of.
We’d cease to exist, cease to be.
It reminds me to nurture each and every green friend,
Because we're in charge of creating the world we want to see.
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