Benediction for the Animals

We ate no flesh in Eden, but afterwards,
when things got hard, we forgot
the peaceful kinship of that ancient kingdom.

As our teeth sank into their flesh
we had to deny them.  So we said
they had no souls, no reason, no thumbs,
no speech.  We were so different.  We made
a chain of things to protect us - fire, medicine,
our locking houses, many kinds of clothes.

And we renamed them - farm product, fur crop,
harvest, renewable resource.

Pray that we will see
their faces again in the mirror of creation,
the miracle of animals, their clear eyes
meaning more than profit to our own.



by Jean Pearson from Earth Prayers