BLESSED INHERITANCE
Praise God that we inherit such bequest
Abundant riches there now for the taking
In vapour, fluid, rock at our behest
Beyond the dreams of kings with power world shaking
Such treasure now dismissed with high disdain
By those who would return to worlds gone by
When Nature exercised unquestioned reign
To be propitiated, lest we die
In that ideal and pure untainted span
That some may yearn to see again restored
The Earth remained untouched by tools of man
In transient lives of drudgery endured
Now gifts of value more than precious jewels
Do lift our lives: these blessed fossil fuels!
Just to be present is a blessed event,
Arguments about form are just chatter,
The hour it arrives always filled with portent,
No competing high purpose will matter.
For writing a poem's like creating life,
An honor to just assist in its birth,
To battle with muse, fight with clarity's knife,
What could there be more important on earth?
The paper we write on is like Holy Ground,
Our ink honors life, its fragrance like myrrh,
To grind mental gears is a world shaking sound,
Images form, suggest God's passing blur.
As rainbows crown rain that brings life to the plain,
So does new poetry honor its source,
Heals the soul, mends the heart, abolishes pain,
Moves emotion along God's refined course.
Poems that all of our emptiness purges,
Poems like river banks guide our essence,
Until, at long last, humanity merges
With the vast sea of God's exuberance.
Brian Johnston
April 29, 2014
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