In the time of the Great Extinction,
There dwelt a woman favored among sapiens,
Hana, a lady of Wisdom and renown,
Foremost of her kind,
Blessed with the gift of prophesy.
She read the signs in the heavens
Events foretold by the least of the creeping things
How violence and pollution,
Seen as an inevitable nuisance by sapiens,
Was to be the undoing of all the Earth.
Wisdom instructed her to build a craft,
A complex of wise design
Sufficient for 1500 years of life.
Wise women and men came from the six continents
To lend their knowledge, sit at her feet, and grow in Wisdom.
The Deluge came in Year 0.
Wisdom shut her in with her colleagues,
And for 400 years the Deluge fell and raged,
Reducing the bountiful diversity of the Earth
To a remnant of adaptable survivors.
The Earth purified herself from centuries of sin.
The righteous species perished with Homo sapiens,
A species ill-named-- knowledge without wisdom,
Bent towards violence and pollution.
All were sacrificed but the remnant.
The sacrifice made, the Earth was cleansed
Another desecration, another recovery
She offered sapiens a mountain for our new home
A chance to be righteous and wise,
Avoid violence and pollution, and walk in love.
Wisdom preserved a remnant
Sealed in a wisely constructed craft
Hana preserved only the wise ones
With seven pairs of each righteous species
Carefully selected from a vast but shrinking number
Ravens were the first to survive outside the craft,
Later, doves made their home on the high mountain, and flourished.
Another century, and the swallows adapted to the Earth's offering.
Then the people of Hana came forth from the craft, two by two,
With all the other righteous species, each according to their kind.
Hana, breathing the clean air, drinking the pure water, and tasting the fruit of the rich soil,
Offered herself as a sacrifice to the Earth.
The Earth was well pleased and took Hana to herself.
Her comrades walked in the way of the Wise,
The practice of righteousness, love, and flourishing.
Other mountains were cleansed
And the valleys made ready for the coming of the children of Wisdom.
Still we build, maintain, tear down, and remember,
Wisdom and the Earth our instructors
In the way of righteousness, love, and flourishing.
The sacrifice made, the Earth was cleansed
Another desecration, another recovery
She offered sapiens a mountain for our new home
A chance to be righteous and wise,
Avoid violence and pollution, and walk in love.
<To those of you who are very confused right now: this is a mythological poem set in the distant future after an environmental catastrophe. Hope that clears things up! -DG>
There dwelt a woman favored among sapiens,
Hana, a lady of Wisdom and renown,
Foremost of her kind,
Blessed with the gift of prophesy.
She read the signs in the heavens
Events foretold by the least of the creeping things
How violence and pollution,
Seen as an inevitable nuisance by sapiens,
Was to be the undoing of all the Earth.
Wisdom instructed her to build a craft,
A complex of wise design
Sufficient for 1500 years of life.
Wise women and men came from the six continents
To lend their knowledge, sit at her feet, and grow in Wisdom.
The Deluge came in Year 0.
Wisdom shut her in with her colleagues,
And for 400 years the Deluge fell and raged,
Reducing the bountiful diversity of the Earth
To a remnant of adaptable survivors.
The Earth purified herself from centuries of sin.
The righteous species perished with Homo sapiens,
A species ill-named-- knowledge without wisdom,
Bent towards violence and pollution.
All were sacrificed but the remnant.
The sacrifice made, the Earth was cleansed
Another desecration, another recovery
She offered sapiens a mountain for our new home
A chance to be righteous and wise,
Avoid violence and pollution, and walk in love.
Wisdom preserved a remnant
Sealed in a wisely constructed craft
Hana preserved only the wise ones
With seven pairs of each righteous species
Carefully selected from a vast but shrinking number
Ravens were the first to survive outside the craft,
Later, doves made their home on the high mountain, and flourished.
Another century, and the swallows adapted to the Earth's offering.
Then the people of Hana came forth from the craft, two by two,
With all the other righteous species, each according to their kind.
Hana, breathing the clean air, drinking the pure water, and tasting the fruit of the rich soil,
Offered herself as a sacrifice to the Earth.
The Earth was well pleased and took Hana to herself.
Her comrades walked in the way of the Wise,
The practice of righteousness, love, and flourishing.
Other mountains were cleansed
And the valleys made ready for the coming of the children of Wisdom.
Still we build, maintain, tear down, and remember,
Wisdom and the Earth our instructors
In the way of righteousness, love, and flourishing.
The sacrifice made, the Earth was cleansed
Another desecration, another recovery
She offered sapiens a mountain for our new home
A chance to be righteous and wise,
Avoid violence and pollution, and walk in love.
<To those of you who are very confused right now: this is a mythological poem set in the distant future after an environmental catastrophe. Hope that clears things up! -DG>
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