When Last Did We Give The Earth Its Due Day? Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

When did we last give back without constraint?
Let foregone beauty slip beneath the surface -
Giving up readily without restraint -
Surrendering to time and place?

When last did we give the earth its due day
Recognising its grounded verity
Gifting the sun itself in Sunday pay
Celebrating its integrity?

Consider three thousand years have passed
At the spring where the holy torc was laid:
And now how we only take to the last
Honouring nothing but what is paid?

And how that gilded gift was everything:
Fearsome in its deftcraft intricacy
Signifying the summer sun's rising
And filling every hand with beauty -

Then willingly, joyfully released
Laid down without sanction or regret,
For unity and harmony increased,
Acknowledging no slight, or doubt or debt.

We are a lesser people long estranged
From heaven's heartfelt generosity
Seizing what can only be awarded
By gainsaying reciprocity.

We have lost the ability to gift
Unable to dedicate or conserve
Even though the earth cries out for uplift
And only selflessness will truly serve.