In the great big ocean, I was born so very small
Shaped like the Eiffel tower, but not so tall at all
Growing up the others, called me echinopluteus
And when I was a young thing, there were millions of us
Where I lived, whole universes were the size of just one drop
Full of unearthly beings all swimming around nonstop
Creations that seemed like things from a dream
Each life form evolved into some new extreme
A beautiful world with stunning sights to see
But it was a treacherous, dangerous world to me
All that I knew in our big ocean blue
Were the things to eat and what would eat you
There were creatures with jaws and teeth sharp as saws
They had long sticky nets and they had very sharp claws
Each day I would swim and shake off the hunch
That sooner or later I’d be somebody’s lunch
I ate what I could from currents passing by
Small plants called algae or whatever was in supply
But all of a sudden one day by surprise
I began to sink and stopped in a place I didn’t recognize
Strange things were happening to my slender form
Compressed and stretched I began to deform
Unrecognizable and with a new spikey style
I gained a shell and became an urchin juvenile
I learnt how to walk on hundreds of tube feet
I used burrows to hide and found kelp to eat
I put shells on my head or other things I could grab
To hide from the sea stars and large lurking crabs
My home was a kelp bed with soft dappled light
I would happily munch on it all day and all night
I grew and I grew and in no time at all
I was fifty millimeters wide and thirty tall
But with kelp beds come otters as part of the deal
Who love nothing more than a quick urchin meal
Good news I did learn about those pesky otters
A long while ago they were taken out of our waters
What good fortune I thought as I ate some more kelp
I never would have thought the kelp could need help
I was now an adult full of strength and of pride
I could eat and relax and no longer had to hide
But with no otters around the urchins did abound
And we ate so much kelp there was soon none left to be found
I then lived in a barren empty of food
With thousands of urchins in a foul mood
There was nowhere to go and nothing to do
And soon other problems appeared out of the blue
The water was warmer than I’d ever seen
And it was more acidic than it’d ever been
I feel unwell when hot water comes in on the swell
And when it’s too acidic my shell doesn’t grow well
I was hungry and hot and I even moved slow
And then it became harder and harder to grow
Us urchins did search for new kelp beds to eat
But the kelp could not grow in this new extreme heat
There were too many urchins eating what was left
We needed otters to come back so the kelp could be less stressed
Our whole world had changed and the future looked bleak
I didn’t know what to do and I became very weak
So now I say what I see and I speak for the kelp
They’re threatened and dying and they need our help
I’m only an urchin without so much as a brain
So I need more humans to join my campaign
I’ve heard that it’s people who are threatening my home
Their machines put out heat and plastic, even Styrofoam
These things make our ocean a bad place to live
And while our oceans trying there are things it can’t forgive
Nature is a constant balance and life’s a give and take
Things are getting out of hand and the environments at stake
To not protect our oceans would be a grave mistake
We need to stop polluting and allow our oceans to recuperate
Bring back the otters that you took for your fur coats
And stop driving around in your gas guzzling boats
Stop sitting around when there is work to be done
Much of the damage can already not be undone
I’m an old urchin now and I want to retire
But I cannot rest when the future is so dire
So I’ll continue to tell all that will listen to me
We need to act now to save my home in the sea