Covet

Young smooth woodland, culled of beast, dryad, shades,

Small groves given reprieve, with surface roots delving,

Sifting sod, sustained on the ancient primal essence,

Of the old ones, fallen forests festering putrescence, 

Forgotten nymphs, now compost the humus - feeding,

Saplings, orphaned roots cede to encroaching glades.

Further down, the blood of still more ancient spirits,

Great titans that ruled seas, plains, and woodlands,

Bones etching stones in a revelation of past destiny,

Dinosaurs, dragons, leviathan, a veritable bestiary, 

With forgotten flora -- bleed crude into miserly hands,

These covetous exiles, consuming creation -- dispirit,

The holy places.

Hand

 Milky moon rays trickle o'er fingers and palm, then

Silhouette this collage of keratin and pocked skin,

Wrapped sinewy and protruding in dissimilar quin,

Unfolding in the light, then crumpling in chagrin,

Each gnarly knuckled, entwining with it's twin,

Enrobed in wisps of prayer.

Visitation

Cold worlds, formed of the debris of stars,

Embers of heaven in endless spectacles,

Wordless art galleries attest the ineffable, 

Orbs hewn by powers in galactic wars,

Left barren and beautiful.

Endless are the artful surfaces, frozen or afire,

Which crater, crack, or crag o'er rolling horizons,

Pooling elements reflecting glorious denizens --

-- Suns trilling deep o'er the expanse, a vast choir.

A pining of loving and rueing.  

Each star born as love fires in nebula nurseries,

Cast out like fledglings to join stellar throngs,

One watery world of one fledgling star-songs,

A canticle uniting each breath in a sanctuary.

God's language and liturgy.

That earth should suckle the One,

Maker of suns, our brother-son.

This comely sphere radiates the divine breath,

Seen swaying in the wind or galloping o'er planes,

Look up, like a cub licking in a cool spring rain.

Soar, leave earth, stars, 'ere the edge of death,

Beloved of star maker.

Laud,

Laugh,

Love.