1. Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out
By Shel Silverstein

2. She’d wash the dishes and scrub the pans

3. Cook the yams and spice the hams

4. And though her parents would scream and shout

5. She would not take the garbage out

6. And so it piled up to the ceiling

7. Coffee Grounds

8. Potato Peelings

9. Brown Bananas and Rotten Peas

10. Chunks of sour cottage cheese

11. It filled the can, it covered the floor

12. It cracked the window and blocked the door

13. With bacon rinds and chicken bones

14. Drippy ends of ice cream cones

15. Prune pits, peach pits, orange peels

16. Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal

17. Pizza crusts and withered greens

18. Soggy beans and tangerines

19. Crusts of black burned buttered toast

20. Grisly bits of beefy roast.

21. The garbage rolled on down the halls,

22. It raised the roof, it broke the walls,

23. I mean greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,

24. Blobs of gooey bubble gum,

25. Cellophane from old bologna,

26. Rubbery, blubbery macaroni,

27. Peanut butter caked and dry,

28. Curdled milk and crusts of pie,

29. Rotten melons, dried up mustard,

30. Egg shells mixed with lemon custard,

31. Cold French fries and rancid meat,

32. Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.

33. At last the garbage reached so high
That
finally It
touched
The
Sky,

34. And none of her friends would come to play

35. And all of her neighbors moved away

36. And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout
Said “Okay, I’ll take the garbage out!”

37. But then of course it was too late,
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate;

38. And there in the garbage she did hate
Poor Sarah met an awful fate
That I cannot right here relate
Because the hour is much too late
But children, remember Sarah Stout,
And always take the garbage out.

39. So what is the takeaway message?
Pope Francis said: The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. Industrial waste and chemical products utilised in cities and agricultural areas can lead to bioaccumulation in the organisms of the local population, even when levels of toxins in those places are low. Frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected.