God Gave Unto The Animals

God Gave Unto The Animals

God gave unto the Animals

A wisdom past our power to see:

Each knows innately how to live,

Which we must learn laboriously.

 The Creatures need no lesson books,

For God instructs their Minds and Souls:

The sunlight hums to every Bee,

The moist clay whispers to the Mole.

 And each one seeks its meat from God,

And each enjoys the Earth’s sweet fare;

But none does sell and none does buy,

And none does foul its proper lair.

 The Serpent is an arrow bright

That feels the Earth’s vibrations fine

<p class="MsoNormal">Run through its armoured shining flesh,

<p class="MsoNormal">And all along its twining spine.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Oh, would I were, like Serpent’s wise –

<p class="MsoNormal">To sense the wholeness of the Whole,

<p class="MsoNormal">Not only with a thinking Brain, But with a swift and ardent Soul.

from The God's Gardeners Oral Hymnbook from Margaret Atwoods'  Year of the Flood