Old and Older

Gnarled old tree what have you seen,

and who has sat beneath your green?

What long-past elders sat and spoke

beneath your arching leafy cloak,

sharing wisdom, guiding folk?

 

Widest sky of blue unfurled

once spread a roof across the world

of men and women of this land,

the families of every clan,

a simple-living hardy band.

 

Ancient mountain rising high,

where princely eagles soar and fly,

you have seen the ebb and flow

of the people down below,

Sometimes joy, and sometimes woe.

 

Alpha Father of us all,

created us but let us fall.

You gifted people with free will,

to choose for good or choose for ill.

Always near us, with us still.

 

Eternal-from-forever Word,

present when the world appeared,

You came to live upon the Earth,

born through human virgin birth.

You give us life, you give us worth.

 

Before the Earth had come to be,

the oldest mountain, deepest sea,

You always are and always were,

Superbly holy, rich in care,

You’re everlasting, everywhere.

© Ellen Carr 2020