DEDICATED TO THE UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

(COP 26), GLASGOW, 31.10.21-12.11.21

Learning from Noah

Warning

from Noah

flood waters drenching half the Earth.

But this time

no saving remnant

and no prospect of a remnant saved

not even an olive-branch-bearing dove.

Meanwhile

where the sun bakes

frenzied fires igniting

incinerating everything in their wake.

And Life in all its myriad splendour

destroyed not only by deluge and drought

Nature vanquished

banished by industrialised ingenuity

our voracious capricious wants

overwhelming our human needs

and crushing the needs of our creaturely neighbours.

As on land, so at sea

oceans once teaming with life

now choking on plastic

coral reefs once glistening garlands beneath the waves

now bleached and barren.

Can we halt the devastation?

where rain meets sun

rainbows splash across the sky

urging us

in this perilous moment

to make a new covenant with the Earth.

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

October 2021 – Cheshvan 5782