i
W. H. Auden stated
the 1st law most clearly––
we must love one another
or die
love makes our hearts
glow & clasps
our hands together
as we sing
ii
for the dependent arisings
that we are––
love is our likely
purpose
in the universe
iii
the God of the Book
burned
Thou shalt not kill
with his finger
into stone––
yet we humans &
our tribes are obsessed
with killing––
squandering our
fragile lives
on talons & arrows
to disguise
our fear
as power
iv
how long ago did
Hippocrates advise us all to
do no harm––
we have no right
to hurt a human being or to maim the smallest
inanimate thing
v
economics is
the joy of caring
for our planet––
not the instrumentality
of greed
vi
God blessed
the children of Eden &
said
Be fruitful & multiply
& replenish
the earth…
the what of our work here
is propagation &
beauty
we shalt not
touch the balance-wheel
of our spinning planet
with our grasping
hands––
a desert earth
is a final paradise
lost
vii
perhaps we shall be
saved by
lovingkindness––
the Ren of Confucius,
the kindness of the Dalai Lama,
the loving face of
Jesus––
wisdom is beyond us
& compassion is forgotten
in our times
yet God poured kindness
into our hearts
before the beginning–
maybe just enough
for us to look
beyond our selfish-selves
& see