Whatever caused last winter’s rage –
Accumulated smoke, maybe,
From oil wells by Sadam destroyed,
Combined with evil greenhouse gas
From Satan’s Western forges blown,
Or merely Nature’s cycle strange –
Right now beneath the sky so blue
The broom reborn is yellower,
The wheat more gold; the lilies white,
The berries blacker; grass more green,
The poppies redder than of yore.
So let’s beseech the heavens lest
Ungrateful man – delinquent beast –
Forget, when Summer’s cruel breath
Has burned away this gorgeous Spring
And plastic bags (nudged on by fumes
Of petrol down the paths) o’ertake
His mind, the beauty he could own.
Jerusalem
17 May 1992