Elements

Fire, wind, ground and water: we
have thrived on these, would hold and harness these.

Science, passion, faith, philosophy:
we turn to these and would depend on these

to understand small sparks, short gusts, the mist
and dust of east and west, of north and south;

we cling, we clutch and to the death defend
the corners of existence of and in

a universe we cannot comprehend,
nor are these elements we can control,

the warmth, the breath, the earth, the very blood,
of fire and wind, of ground and water: we,

for all we grasp, remain beholden to
the God of time and space and land and sea.


from Turning the Metaphor