The creation of EARTH began a long time ago,
Years and years, 4.6 billion or so,
If we compress all the facts that we know
A 24-hour clock is the way to go.

At midnight Earth began to form
With nothing to show until early dawn.
Between 05.00 and 06.00 land masses took shape
Continents were formed, later known as landscape.

Between 06.00 and 22.00 life began to form
In water at first, so we learn
Just after 22.00 plants began to grow
Some are still with us from so long ago.

Huge beasts arrived at 22.45
Dinosaurs and Pterodactyls and others survive
For a 180 million years these beasts ruled the earth.
Some hatched eggs whilst others gave birth.

Some walked the earth whilst others took to flight
To see these beasts must have been a wonderful sight
Pterodactyls flew on wings of skin,
With the true development of feathers yet to begin.

Around 23.25 Africa was born
From a huge piece of a continent Africa was torn,
At 23.30 mammals appear
With dinosaurs and others, they lived year after year.

At 23.40 most creatures are dead
The result of an asteroid strike, so it is said
The asteroid strike changed the tilt of the world
Into chaos and climate change it was hurled.

At 23.58 Homo Erectus came down from the north
Ethiopia and Kenya were the places of their birth
Homo Erectus were classified “the wise”
We’re not living up to that “title,” what a surprise.

They traveled the earth and have been found everywhere
There was space at that time for all to share
The 400,000 years that we’ve been here
We’ve multiplied and multiplied without shame or fear.

Other creatures that are a long time dead
Lived for millions of years it must be said
Some mammals and birds survived the changes
Now they face our man-made dangers.

At 23.59.59 milli seconds, Nelson Mandela was born
It signaled a change that would bring a new dawn
Dawns come and go as the one we once had
They make some people happy and some people sad.

The time has come to look at ourselves
Heaven knows we’ve been given enough alarm bells
We must slow down the rate of waste we create
In order to survive before it’s too late.

See if we can go one day without waste
Then do it again to keep up the pace
Imagine the trash that we can save
Before we put all out friends in the grave.

Most people know what must be done
To right the wrongs that we have begun
Reduce the birth rate to suit the crops
Nature has been doing it without any clocks.

The population we create is doing nothing but harm
It might be too late to sound the alarm
What we have done is an absolute disgrace
Now we’re in a race to contaminate space.

Earth has survived many a catastrophe, meteor strikes, ice ages (at least five) with “green periods” in between, earth quakes, volcanic activity spewing tons of ash, any number of other natural events, all without finality.
Will the same be said about man?
The beauty there is in nature and the goodness there is in man, will all come to nothing when we bake in the sun.

Times are scientifically correct.