Air.
Air,
home of the spirits,
Breath
of God.
Kinetic
sculptor of all shape,
Defining
master of sea and sod.
Air,
benefactor of all bellows,
Human,
and made by hand,
Shaping
a wraith of cloud,
Polishing
a grain of sand.
Air,
ferries
life
to
each
of
us
And
randomly
takes
it
away,
She
lends
form
to
the
dance
Gives
voice
its
say.
Air,
great
runway
of
the
heavens,
Gives
landing to earthly aspirations,
Sounds
the
death
knell
of
ones
And
twos and all passing nations.
Air
in
singular
majesty
Decides
what might be,
Syllable,
phrase or sentence
Or
page of history.
Air
of
contract
and
expand,
Accordion
never still,
Stroked
by invisible fingers
Tuned
by ethereal will.
Air,
lavish larder of countless scents,
Home
of myriad memories and dreams,
Unseen
guardian of mists and moisture
Eternal
proof of all is not what it seems.
Air,
life source of every flame,
Greater
than gravity your power,
Ferryman
of dark and light
Pendulum
of every hour.
Fire.
The
Gods,
in
playful
mood
stole
a
cinder
from
the
sun,
And
Prometheus
in
turn
stole
this
fire
for
everyone.
In
the
name
of
the
Fire
the
Sun
and
the
Stars,
This
forever
flame
borrowed
its
colour
from
Mars.
This
fire
got
life
from
friction
as
does
every
living
thing,
from
flash,
flame
and
flicker
the
cricket
learned
to
sing.
Fire
conspires
with
air
To
bring
liquid
flame
alive
And
still
the
mystery
remains
Why
only
the
pure
survive.
And
man
believes
in
control
Of
this
element,
for
himself
In
forge
and
kiln
and
stove
Red
matches
on
the
shelf.
Terror,
the
democracy
of
fire
Invented
by
soul
savers
Not
to
live
better
lives
But
be
owned
by
people
slavers.
This
fire
produces
light
Frail
shadow
of
the
dark,
Impatient
fire
never
still
using
every
spark
to
brighten
conversations
at
the
hearth
of
every
grate,
Shape-changing
theatre
of
tale,
Matter
into
nothing,
nothing
matters,
too
late.
Stone
Land,
first
born
of
the
first
born,
Here
before
us,
here
without
us,
alone.
The
ancient
eye
of
landscape
watched
our
coming
patiently,
through
pebble,
boulder
and
stone.
Land
gave
us
whereness
and
temporary
roots,
Foundation
for
our
frailty
and
need,
In
return
we
gave
her
rape,
ruin
and
pillage
to
power
our
engine
of
greed.
Mother
of
meteor,
father
of
fossil,
Vulnerable
to
religion’s
daughter,
Silent
parchment
of
all
commandments,
Her
message
is
ferried
by
breeze
and
water.
Rock
and
mountain,
grain
of
sand,
Ledge
and
ravine
has
soul.
Intruder
man
knows
lesser
Gods,
Lesser
than
her
grounded
mole.
What
is
‘here’
or
‘there’
without
the
land?
Where
is
home
and
away?
Every
place
is
where
she
leaves
us,
Allows
us
to
come
or
stay.
Birds
and
beasts
her
allies,
Seas
and
mountains
her
stores,
Trees
and
rivers
her
jewels,
Etna
and
Vesuvius
her
pores.
Man,
an
earthen
vessel
himself,
Self
proclaimed
Lord
of
all,
Stone,
the
ultimate
conclusion,
Certainty,
the
coming
of
another
fall.
Ever
changing
skin
of
vegetation
and
colour
Every
heartbeat
an
ever
filling
glass,
Earth,
mantle
of
our
useless
bones,
Secure
in
the
knowledge,
‘these
too
will
pass’.
Water
Water,
liquefied
air
grounded
by
gravity
Far
greater
Leveller
than
even
Shirley’s
Death,
Dew
in
the
morning,
fog
in
the
evening,
Translucent
halo
of
angel’s
breath.
Binding
member
of
eternal
elements,
Ancient
conversations
with
the
stone,
Tears
of
the
earth,
border
of
life
and
death
Life
that
can
live
alone.
At
the
wedding
feast
of
Cana
the
host
was
mute
and
hushed,
Then
the
humble
water
met
the
Lords
gaze
and
the
humble
water
blushed.
Since
baptism
in
Jordan’s
river,
Since
Ararat
of
two
by
two,
There’s
no
will
but
the
water’s
will
The
white
swell
and
the
blue.
The
well
connects
the
darkness
and
the
light,
The
seaside
ties
the
water
to
the
land,
The
river
joins
the
country
and
the
ocean
And
rain
provides
the
life
in
everyman.
Ice,
the
surgeon
with
eternal
scalpel
Carved
each
valley,
glacier,
river
bed,
Elusive
mist,
cloak
of
every
mountain,
Snow,
a
scarf
for
headstones
of
our
dead.
Water,
first
mirror
of
the
universe,
Never
strays
outside
its
own
desire,
Tide,
slave
mistress
of
the
moon,
Diviner
of
thirst;
of
flame,
a
sole
defier.
The
first
swim
of
this
life
in
amniotic
whirlpool
of
the
womb,
The
last
swim
of
this
life
in
all
embracing
moisture
of
the
tomb.
