"For the Beauty of the Earth"

For the beauty of the earth
that sighs by tickly pussy willow patches
and hails time's march by honking gobbly-necked geese.
She flushes in the swish of lavender grasses,
and her heart jumps by little frogs
that plop by fives into cold, green ponds.

By Eloise Wilkin

For the glory of the seas,
that wave red fan coral
like fine ladies in a Chinese opera,
while schools of kissing fishes
(a murmuration of salt-water starlings)
make shadows on the ocean floor,
passing like clouds of the deep.

By Eloise Wilkin

For the beauty of the warm underside of a robin,
for the way her feathers divide
at the touch of her young.

by Eloise Wilkin

For the beauty of the skies,
for miles and miles of Prussian blue,
for hot white dots of distant suns.

For the mucky smell of dog breath
and the heady purr of a cat --
for standing small and quiet.

For lightning bugs
and the crackly cadence of cricket songs,
Christ, our Lord, to Thee we raise,
this, our hymn of grateful praise.