Nature’s Peace
By John Herlihy

I
Nature’s peace sheds its light
At certain hours of the day.
Dawn awakens by making the heavens starless,
Twilight brings with it the breath of darkness,
Midnight utters a quiet hush,
Noontime beams with scarlet blush.
At first light, the sun climbs boldly over the horizon.
At dusk, the sun sets so quickly you can see it falling,
Falling down in reflection thru the village windows.
A strong wind hustles the clouds thru the sky,
As if they had a naughty rendezvous on the sly.
A mother hen bundles her chicks thru the farmyard,
In the fields, the wind tousles the hair of the wheat and corn,
And caresses the red faces of the poppies not yet shorn.

II
The windows of a village hut glowed in tribute to the dying sun;
A bubbling brook flowed behind the barn as though on the run.
For a moment, the wind carried all sound far away in the distance;
You could hear the earth breathing on its own with some insistence.
Then the hateful terror returned once again and made itself known,
Bringing with it an unearthly sorrow we have sown on our own.
Terror and war and pestilence continue to spread across the land,
Igniting the flames of passion and hatred that we humans have planned,
Overshadowing nature’s benevolence amid simple village life,
Stealing away nature’s peace with this unending earthly strife.
The wild geese rise up from the safety of the placid lake;
They see what has happened and in protest they refuse to stay.
The knowing birds flee from this land with a deep-throated groan;
Nature’s blame answers this cry of sadness by making itself known.