#Living Psalm 8_Tirabassi for June 15

And what are you, O God
painting the sky with the beauty of sunrise, 
offering us delight
in the pantomime of clouds,
choosing the words of children
as the soundtrack of the spirit,
for they play with syllables of wonder,
translating the smallest joys
long before the intricacies
of technology 
try to define the values of life?

You point us to learn from the moon,
that is never the same,
fearlessly waxing and waning  
from night to night,
and happily willing
to reflect the light of others,
so unlike our fevered desires
to be in control,
to be desperately ourselves.

You teach us the treasure of twinkle,
in the old, old light of stars
that may no longer exist
but still shines,
while we insist on the prison 
of now, now, now.

And what are we,
crowned with responsibility
for plankton, puppy and porpoise,
for the roots of great trees
and the gossamer of butterfly wing,
for the life-giving nourishment,
of yam and peanut,
for the drying of the oceans
the rising of wild winds,
above the tinder of over-building?

Be-calmed and be-psalmed, 
we are awed and afraid,
and we wait 
in the waning of vanity
for the waxing 
of the universality of majestic!