Curmudgeonly sonnet at YMG
Rob Paton shares his curmudgeonly sonnet, inspired by his time at YMG
by Rob Paton
12th August 2011
More humility, please. For we did not
‘Abolish slavery’. The record also shows
How slaves at fearful cost themselves arose
To fight, forgive, and change the global plot.
More humility, please. Our call is not
To ‘Save the planet’. Spaces for humanity
Are not won through panicked grandiosity;
And Gaia will glow on without our lot.
Forgive me. Quakers are a goodly bunch;
And minds the grace of nature’s endless lunch.
So I too weep. We may collapse in war,
For humankind has seen it thus before.
The grandkids, if they must, will build a-new.
Creator Spirit, be there for them too.
Rob Paton
Canterbury, 2 August 2011
