Sermon

Out of the darkness and the bouillabaisse
of nebulae and swirling gas we come,
out of the toxic argon wilderness,
seeking a sanctuary and a home.
Be kind. Love one another.

The frogs are dying. The old copper beech
festers in acid rain. The sky corrodes,
contaminated birds are robbed of speech
and, wrapped in fumes, Antarctica implodes.
Be kind. Love one another.

Towering tsunamis break upon the shore.
The rich pursue a dream of lost content.
Drought and starvation threaten more and more.
An epidemic claims a continent.
Be kind. Love one another.

Antipathies accumulate of race.
Jew, Muslim, Gentile — which can hate the best?
A cashiered commissar, now fallen from grace,
downs vodka, nursing gall within his breast.
Be kind. Love one another.

Poor Guanxi peasants contemplate TVs
and satellites beam down upon Nepal.
Gunboats warn off a raft of refugees.
The worldwide web encompasses us all.
Be kind. Love one another.

Into the darkness of an endless night,
the eternal mystery of death, we go,
trailing our weak, inconsequential light
beyond the desolation here below.
Be