Today we have something a little different. Dr. Jane Goodall is going to tell you a story. Stay tuned after the animation to learn how to download this as a free children's book. Ready? Let's begin.

It starts as a whisper, a word on the air. It can't quite be heard, but you know that it is here. As gentle as sunlight, as tenacious as hale, in its route to the heart, it could not but prevail. And people looked up from their day -to-day tasks, their day-to-day jobs and their day-to-day masks. They heard or they felt, where the whisper could lead, and they looked with eyes wide at what that might mean. And once they could see it, they hadn't a chance to resist the sweet song of the deep spell it cast. But the feeling it brought them at first glance was pain, as they lifted their eyes on the land they had claimed. Since they saw at last as if raised from a dream, they were almost alone on the land and the sea. For the trees had almost gone, and the bees had almost gone, and the creatures in their shells by the seas had almost gone. And people felt sad as they saw their new Earth, but they knew this was it, one wild chance for rebirth. Breaking new ground, seeds rolling down, smell of the earth on your hands and your brow. No time for sorrow, we are building tomorrow. The sound of things growing now keeps us around. As the wildness grows, and the deep wood grows, and the sense that the future's come to meet you grows. There is no chance we can rest. We must do our best. This moment can lead us back home, that is our test.

It starts as a whisper, a word on the air. It can't quite be heard, but you know that it is there. It then spoke like thunder. Until we all moved. And we could. And we did. And it is done. She is renewed.

Help turn the whisper into a roar by sharing this poem today. You can download the illustrated book for free at ed.ted.com/whisper or keep your soul aflutter with one of these animated poems.