My Father, the Prophet
Two years before he died in 1987, my dad wrote this:
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE
The circle of life goes on.
In time son follows father
and grandchild follows son.
All enjoy the bounties of Earth
and take from it a part,
leaving the refuse and pollution
to those who follow.
I am full of years,
my grandson less than one.
What am I leaving for him?
Only the waste that I have made.
Will he ever know the joys
of nature that I have known
since I came this way?
The perfumed air of a summer morning
untouched by factory fumes
but sweetened by honeysuckle,
such as I once knew?
A walk through a virgin forest
or a drink from a clean, pure stream
as once we oldsters drank?
God, help us leave something
for those who follow us,
more than waste and refuse
of modern civilization.
This my prayer and hope:
That Nature will survive
to bless our little ones,
and keep our world alive!
Robert Jay Gardner
