Occasional Impressions

The Harvest of the Muse

World in distress

If we look all around
to the air, to the ground
to the hills, to the sea, to the plain,
does our heart truly thrill
that the fair earth can still
respond to the sun and the rain?

What we buy from the shelf
with our tokens of wealth
has been torn from the sea and the land.
Have we paid a fair price
for the gifts of God’s grace
and restored what we take with our hand?

If we hear a bright sound
as our gaze circles round:
is it bird, is it beast, near or far,
or is song quite drowned out
by the drone that has clout:
by the music of truck, plane or car?

And when God passes by
on his rounds through the sky
does he cry? does he weep? does he thrill?
does he joy? does he scowl?
will he throw in the towel
at the answer we give to his will?

If we gave but a thought
to the ill we have wrought
to the globe we are given for home,
should we weep? should we cry
at the chances passed by
to make good all the harm we have done?
Gary Rhead

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