The Earth

 

The earth only endures – I read it once,

so long ago. Is this our history,

mankind immersed in nature’s overflow?

I feel for you – a people far and near.

What have you done? Where do you go? The silence

of those hills, the sorrow of the snow.

What have we left? A world corrupted, life

now out of tune. Yet nature has its way,

its mystery rights every wrong. But this –

humanity itself – who can redeem?

His everlasting love endures. I see

it in the cross. The universe transfigured.

Is this the overflow? His earthly will

becomes the fount of everything fulfilled.

 

 

Eden

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​Eden – dawn – humanity – a stream –

a garden – cyprus trees – a place to work

and care – wild animals and birds – a name

given to all – a source of gold – the human

dreams – a woman born – a serpent there –

the voice of God – two cherubim – a flaming

sword – where are we now? – Messiah – tree –

a glory – living streams – but what of nature? –

another age – at the renewal of

all things the twelve tribes shall be judged – but what

of us? – between the ages – humanity –

our farms – our water source – our trees of life.

 

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Anthropocene

 

Anthropocene – another age – in us

the earth has found a new identity.

“Here is the man!” The stars are high – at dusk

humanity. The crowds cried “Crucify” –

a beggar now – the King – infinity

engraved on wood. The finitude of earth.

A law. Today a hundred companies

inflicting suffering – what are they worth?

What price – terrestrial inhumanity?

They clothed him in a purple robe, they slapped

his face. “Here is your King.” They crucified

and buried him. Eternity is mapped

in men’s disgrace. Emmanuel in dust –

in death as was in life – a holy gust.

 

 

Extinction

 

Extinction. Circles never end. A line,

made up of ceaseless points, concludes. A life –

a spiral – emanates – a point beginning –

circling – ending – infinitely – a crisis

when it is no more. Each life revolves

around its core. The marks of spring appear –

green shoots – the generations past involved.

A darkness now – the spring has disappeared.

A human world. A night without a star.

A grandeur lost – the heights and depths – the we.

Humanity abounds – horizons far.

To be – a little less humanity.

A corporation’s greed – infinity.

A life – a gift – a bright eternity.

 

 

Capital

 

The earth’s in pain, besieged by Capital.

A slow attrition. Like a noose its power

grips the neck. All is expendable.

Relentlessly – a weed without a flower –

expanding into virgin territory.

Exploiting wealth indigenous – of people

and of place. Expropriated free.

Who can resist?  Its influence the steeple

and the bank defend, the mighty set

against the suffering of the poor. Five hundred

years, its character unchanged. The best

of men subsumed. A crime. A fearful wonder.

For those who break its spell, a world repaired,

in time, the wealth of earth and nations shared.

 

 

Never

 

The stars are high tonight. I sometimes think

that there are more of them than us. I know

that Abraham witnessed the future so –

his nameless progeny amidst the inky

sky. I understand their power to link

us to the future of mankind. It’s only

in more recent times that distant zones

of space have been revealed, and tiny twinkling

stars in countless multitudes appeared

where none had been before. But what of those

they represent – if they should never be?

If putting down our telescopes made sheer

abundance disappear? God never chose

it to be thus, and never too, should we.

 

 

Ghost Gums

 

A gum – a ghostly presence – certainty

subsumed – the mountains silent – rocks eternal –

one by one the trees exist – a name –

the morning sun – the distance drawing near –

humanity unseen – a radiant sky –

an Eden far from paradise – the purple

ridge – the sunshine on the grass – the nameless –

image of another world – a country’s

heart – a nation failed – eternity

engraved – the painter there – a ghost – what is

and what is not – the arch – the shelter – red

the roots – a life appears – a silent dawn.

 

 

Ants

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Intangible – the gentle path of ants.

They shine. Beneath the sky – eternity.

A galaxy – each ant a star – advancing –

circling within circles – silently.

They touch – a transcendental immanence.

The sunshine moves. What God is this that arcs

across the sky? We search for permanence –

the ants endure. As shadows fall a spark

of holiness appears within the husk.

They pass – a constellation – one by one.

They signal. Silently they turn. The dusk

declares their innocence – ten thousand suns –

their multiplicity. This is what is –

community – divinity that lives.

 

 

A Single Bird

 

A single bird is floating in the air.

Its eye observes the sprawling marks of our

humanity. It meditates, a flower

in bloom within a field, its heart aware.

A timelessness has come and settled there

and beckons us to stop and, like a tree,

send tender shoots into infinity.

Our certainties give way to a despair

as nature takes our image. Solitary,

the circling bird ascends and disappears.

A riddle left for us to solve – to see

an image fade – which one remains unclear.

 

 

Imagination

 

It’s unimaginable, the sorrow soon.

When numbers grow through millions to beyond

our minds are left behind. It would be wrong

to say we understood. A flower blooms

and we are moved. Our soul is pitched in tune

with other souls, we feel the dissonance

when sorrow sounds in them. But this abundance

overwhelms us. Suffering in bloom –

in orchard after orchard, spilling over

each horizon found until another’s

seen – no soul can contemplate. We must

retreat. But even this is sobering –

imagination, feebly seeing our brothers,

teaches us to not betray their trust.

 

 

Beneath

 

A church beneath the sky. A magpie, silent,

now begins to sing. A gold eyed fly

observes my form. Each fallen leaf is quiet.

A mystery, what is. Identity.

A fragment of a great reality –

each being a token. Ceaselessly the sun

appears. In everything the dawn. To be –

the surface breaks. What is – what was begun.

I watch the long wake disappear. The sea

grows silent. Nothingness. I feel for you –

the sun that sets each afternoon. To be

is not to be. And yet – the sky is blue –

in love there is infinity. The singing

bird – the evidence of other things.

 

 

Redemption

 

Each dawn a light appears. I see it now,

reflected on the water. Hope is here –

we feel it in our bones. Is this the flow

of history – a mercy drawing near?

A stream of ants – each one declaring that

they know this great reality – the light –

for this is what they speak about, as friends.

To act justly, to love mercy, to humbly

walk – the prophet guides humanity –

a river’s radiance – the sun reflected

on the waves – this is what comes to us.

I sent you Moses, Aaron, Miriam.

I lead you out from slavery. To love

is like the dawn that rises in its strength.