Alt-Psalm #4 (a poem)

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
so why do we insist on depleting it?
treating it, beating it like a dirty dog –

Adam named everything he saw,
the beasts & critters that crawl,
the plants & trees so tall,
and since those days in Eden,
we’ve furiously assaulted the planet –

So, if the earth is yours, O LORD,
what about the other planets?
Venus is too hot – we can’t stand it,
Pluto too cold – we’d freeze in a minute –

When we’ve decimated earth, O LORD,
rich humans will find a place in the stars,
perhaps they’ll go to Mars,
leaving masses to burn the dead,
choking on greenhouse gasses,
on a bed of ashes & dust

Author’s Note: The first line of this poem is taken from Psalm 24 from the New International Version of the Holy Bible. I’ve been reading the Psalms again, and my idea was to use lines from them as a poetry prompt to create “Alternative Psalms” applied to the 21st-century world.

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons – Psalm 24 (Vulgata, hebr./modern: Psalm 25), Initial A. In: Albani-Psalter – Source: albani-psalter.de)