2014: A HYMN by Ursula K. Leguin

 

 Our prophets lead our people on

Fast to the promised land,

And where we pass, the green of grass

Turns to bare brown sand.

 

So high our cities' towers soar

Above the deep-set fault,

Immense they rise into the skies,

Pillars of cloud and salt.

 

Impatient with the patient day,

We rush to gain tomorrow,

Our ships that plough the seas with nets

Leave a long and empty furrow

 

Our quick inventions spend our time

Faster and ever faster,

While kind and unforgiving Earth

Endures our brief disaster.

 

For all we do is nothing to

Her bright eons of days.

So let my dark tune turn and end

As all song should, in praise.

 

And in the hope of wisdom yet,

I’ll sing the hymn that praises

Earth’s greater life that gives us life,

The grace that still amazes.

 

Ursula Leguin,

from “Late in the Day” Poems 2010 to 2014