Capturing the Sun
The solar panels are on the roof, generating.
They’re supposed to turn sunlight into volts,
Cutting our bills, saving the planet.
Only one problem – since the guys who put them there went home
(In Wednesday's brilliant sunshine I might add)
The clouds have gathered and stayed in place ever since,
Not so much as a peep or a shard
Of the big yellow ball in the sky.
But all is not completely lost.
These panel things work – a bit, so the man said –
Just from ordinary daylight.
After Day One, the meter reading says – clear as sunshine –
That we have now saved Planet Earth
To the tune of ten kilos of CO2.
Wow!
That’s twenty-two pounds in English!
Ten bags of sugar!
Three decent-sized new-born babies!
A CO2 counterbalance (maybe) to:
A ranch cow having a couple of burps?
A plane flying half a millimetre?
A sapling being felled in a rainforest?
A fat arse trumping on a manicured green?
(But that must be more than 10 kilos, surely?)
And when the sun comes out,
How much planet-saving then?
Half an hour of beefy burps?
A whole metre of flight?
A tree and the ape that lived in it?
(Don’t know about the arseing golfer, though).
But it’s not just us -
If a million roofs bask in the sun
And make billions of volts,
Surely it must do Planet Earth
A power of good?
About the Creator
John Welford
John was a retired librarian, having spent most of his career in academic and industrial libraries.
He wrote on a number of subjects and also wrote stories as a member of the "Hinckley Scribblers".
Unfortunately John died in early July.
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