Sec'hour

DROUGHT

 

Have pity, Lord on the Earth!

O yes: I know you are patient

You had reason to be angry long ago

At prodigal and careless Humanity.

So the hour of Punishment has come.

 

Bow your neck then under the staff,

Bow your back and beat on your chest

O proud Man with your science!

Unable to make a drop of rain.

For days and days

Weeks and months,

In which one observes the sky

In hope of a rainfall

On the dying earth.

 

Of your anger, Lord, Man was deserving,

But the animals and the plants?

They too are your creatures,

And they are innocent,

They have been obedient to you,

Why must they suffer?

Now the cricket is silent,

Now the bird is cut down,

The bare plain is muted.

The heifer bellows in the meadow

As dry as a desert

One's look is pained

When his eye falls on his dog,

Will there be enough bread in the house

To keep his companion alive?

...However

Lord we want to sing again

The Credo of the Peasant:

I believe in you, Master of Nature,

Who sows everywhere Life and Fertility...

But then quit your anger,

And command the Heavens

To moisten the Earth.

Amen!

 

13 August 1976.