Our eristic world, can we make
it irenic again? Can blue skies
make our blue feelings dissipate,
our intemperate feelings sanguine?
When shall we realize that you and
I are one, that all rivulets become
one stream, that all streams become
one river, that all rivers flow into one
ocean? The air that you breathe is
the air I breathe. John Donne was
prescient:  When one dies, all are
diminished. The bombs we build
now traduce us;  weapons make us
weak. Blood in our bodies is meant
for our hearts and tributaries, not
to sodden ground into gore. No
more, I say! Our hands are meant
for helping and for healing;  our
eyes for seeing inequities, iniquities
that still abound. All around are
injustices that penetrate, that per-
meate our souls. Was Earth meant
to perpetrate these wicked ways?
Is Earth dearth of goodness? Surely
not. It has been turned inside out.
We must ameliorate. This is our fate.
So Adam ate an apple…. Earth was
once Eden. Is God so vindictive as
to keep us thus enslaved? We need
not pray forever to make this change.
All rivulets fall into one ocean. You and
all others are one. Our hands and hearts
are joined. God gave us this Earth.
Let us all be good gardeners and
give Him back his Eden. Amen.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks