Where Creation Points

By Andrew R. Duckworth

I.

Nature can explain who God is
With a single wisp of its breath,
Through ridge on the horizon.
The Maker gave us perfection
And, in return, we squandered it.
We looked at the plains,
And in our pride
Said we could do better.
That’s when we started the tower
And it’s been under construction
Ever since.
Too bad the foundation shifts.
It might all come tumbling down,
Sending us all to the far reaches,
Where we won’t understand
A thing said by anyone.

II.

Nature can explain who God is
With a single crash of the wave
Against the dark rock
Near the Irish coast,
Through a morning sun
Upon the Serengeti,
Through the snowfall on Everest.
But we’ve never been the listening,
Watchful type, unless we’re concerned
With our own ventures.
Just look at the way
The tall grass grows,
The way it dances
As the wind blows.
Then, you’ll know.
Then, you’ll know.

III.

Nature can explain who God is
Unless we forget nature’s ways
And the beauty therein.
From the rock peaking
From the ground of the Wasatch Range,
To the breath of God
Over Sinai,
Nature is full of story,
The story of its first and last,
The tales building the past
And leading to the greatest ending.
Every turn seems to point to it,
The end of humanity’s road,
Traveling at breakneck speed.
But we won’t slow down.
It isn’t in the character
That we’ve devised for ourselves.

IV.

Nature can explain who God is
But we took that text
And chiseled off the letters.
We didn’t really want to know,
Hesitantly asked,
As if knowing might destroy
Our already damaged ego,
The psyche of a species
So in love with self
That we falsely believe
We are too big to fail,
That we can go it alone
With a head encased in stone.
Our ears have been closed for years,
But whoever has them, let them hear.
Nature can explain who God is
With a rustle of leaves
From the evergreens.

V.

Nature can explain who God is
And we would rather dwell
In our own creation,
The glass and steel,
The spokes on the wheel
Of self deception.
Nature can explain who God is
With a flash of light
In the storm filled sky.
The words are written
In the rugged land,
The wrinkled skin of the Earth,
There since before man’s birth.
But here we are still building,
Still building our Tower of Babel.