How Could You Go Without A Prayer, Without A Song (A Tribute To Fr. Bismarck Dias Of Goa) Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

O' how he walked across the rivers of time
he felt more closer to humanity than God
he valued beauty of nature more than worship
he felt that between people and natural serenity
should exist no rift, no barriers, no walls;
he wanted no destruction of environment at all
for he knew deep within his mind, that the Creator
had made this world, this earth for men to live
for breathing clean air, for walking through the fields
with greenery around them and freshness of life as their gift;
but as he was holding on to priorities of time
seeking the blessings of nature for tomorrows generations
none could foresee those intentions so noble
as amidst his work of prayers, he stumbled out
to crusade, to promote and preserve
the originality of God's creation for mankind
and help them enjoy its privileges, its resources;
as when every sound or whisper, call or cry he heard
that a tree or land was to be thrashed or slashed
he would rush there and like an apostle preach
expressing that thou shall not steal or kill,
yet when his very own end came and stood before him
how could he err, how could there be a mistake
and though God might have destined him this fate
who will ever be able to tell or relate the truth
what might have happened on that river bank
when he had to so suddenly leave this world
this mother-earth he so much loved
and wanted to pristinely conserve;
no one will ever know what happened on that unholy night
when without a prayer, without a song he left.