Scientists insist life is better now
Than when man had to fear capricious Nature –
Not to mention God (“If he in fact exists”).
Alas! they fail to grasp that, having conquered
Nature and turned his back on The Creator,
Capricious man himself is now to blame
For the plagues, famines, deserts, droughts and floods,
The global warming which will aptly turn
This intended garden planet into Hell;
And has made obsolete the reverent poet
Who in good faith could promise his dear babes
That they would wander like a breeze by lakes
And sandy shores, whereby they shouldn’t fail
To see and hear the lovely shapes and sounds
Intelligible of that eternal language
Which our God utters. Now we’re prophets of doom!
Jerusalem
20 August 1997