PRAYER

Praise be for the second month* 

when the year turns and the world waits 

and Scotland’s skittish summer warms us well

Praise below for 

Hedgerows, harebell and willowherb 

Colourific colonisers of the countryside

Praise above for 

Sand-martins, swifts and swallows 

tapsalteerie** tourists from southern terrains

Praise bee for 

the buzzing and busking of blooms 

contributors to the complexity of ecosystems

And all for your glory

Mercy and grace for

 wanton wastefulness, withered landscapes 

devastation, desperation, and death

Mercy and grace for 

moneyed madness, marred lives 

tawdry riches, rapacious robbers of the poor

Mercy and grace for 

thoughtless tyrannisers, trumpeting their travesties 

warring factions fostering fear and splintering families

And all for your forgiveness

Faith and hope for 

a fruitful plentiful planet for all 

perfectly balanced for bees and birds

Faith and hope for 

a fair sharing for all 

radical rethinking of resources

Faith and hope for 

a peaceful place for all 

safety, security, somewhere to call home

And all for your love

Praise be!

*July is considered to be the second month of summer or winter depending on the hemisphere to which it belongs.

**Tapsalteerie, Scots word for topsy turvy, all over the place.

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