OVER THE GREEN GLADE

Over the green glade fantastic forms of life
Feed on the sun, on dust, and on each other,
Feel cold and warmth, scent out atoms of earth,
Lust and languish, bring forth and die away.

It seems always to have been, nor can the thread
Be found to have its start or have an end.
And we, mighty of all miracles,
Go mad and sane again in abstract dreams.

Over the green glade and under waves of water
Life feeds on air, on sunlight and each other,
Flushes thc planet free of waste in living,
And burns in its cyclic forms to grow again.

And the earth sings and shines in every colour,
Spinning sails in loops around a star,
Proud ark of the covenant, alive with life,
Riding the celestial calm before the storm.

Jay Cohen

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine ?