If those who brought from the East black gold
had listened to the forecast,
they’d have set a different course and saved
the innocent from slaughter.
But no! Shepherds on Shetland pastures
were summoned not by angels,
but by choking, crude coating of flocks
to rescue; while others mourned
defiled purity, lost innocence, wrecked.
Where is our Saviour from short cut slaughter,
from competition and commerce worship?
Can compensation insure or restore?
Does not the Light shine in black storm chaos
that confoundered the Braer, yet has power
to return from flight a New Creator?
Lamenting the wreck of the Braer on Sumburgh Head on the Feast of the Epiphany 1993
Categories:
braer, boat, christian, environment, pollution,
Form: Verse