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A prayer for the planet

Shirley Bell, 1 September, 2002

Dear Lord

You have preserved us from Nazism.
Verword, Bush 1 and Bolshevism
Please preserve us now from Bush 2,
globalisation and euphemism.

And while you about it, dear Lord, could we ask
that you handle another quite trivial task:
preserve us (would you mind?) from all the other -isms
and add, while I think of it, all ethnic schisms.

And as an addendum, could we add to the list
(Perhaps by now you are getting the gist!)
Coca Cola, McDonalds and ever-chewing jaws.
As an afterthought, please tack on unneccessary wars.

On reflection, Lord, take no notice of this.
After all, we created our own abyss.
So we'll pin all our hopes on the latest collation:
the summit that is set to be planetary salvation.

While we keep on not noticing creeping desertification
and we'd rather ignore our soil devastation,
people can starve if they're well out of sight;
we can talk about "oneness" and pretend its all right.

Easy words and glib sayings slip past our lips
while we'd rather not look past our finger-tips.
Stricken with myopia, we're dedicated to change
as long as its effects keep well out of range.

But is it really okay to be declaring attitudes
that are actually based on no more than platitudes?
And is it okay to say "all is well"
while for most of the planet life is pure hell?

Gertrude says to Polonius, "More matter, less art."
What she really meant was "You silly old fart,
start putting the horse before the cart.
Do be a good chap and act from the heart."

So perhaps, God, you should give us a miss
and leave us to deal with our self-made abbys.
If we find it too diffcult to manage to elevate
At least the planet will survive and celebrate.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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