Desideratum

All that I have learnt is that

Our only goal now is

To give land back - every square metre we can -

In the condition in which we usurped it

To the only Power that ever owned it

We own nothing

Except stewardship

The ephemeral thrill

Of the productivity drill

The harbinger of tillage

And every tool of pillage

The mechanical whirring of GDP and wealth

And winning a non-war and the stresses of stealth

We own nothing

Take them away.

Our joy isn't from them.  It never was

Our land isn't ours.  Honest.  It never was.

Our joy is when, from the stands, we watch

The Power at real work

Bring back the soil, the grass and a long lost shrub

And push a stone aside for a growing fig

Our joy is when fireflies light up the night

Where an insecticide once darkened the day

Our joy is when

We accept with humility

That we scarcely did a thing right

But, with rare courage,

In the end

Have done the right thing.