Success Breeds Contempt?

The cormorants have just come back,
They dot the river rocks with black;
Scarecrows with their wings spread wide
To catch the sun, get feathers dried.

They are so good at what they do,
They fly, they swim, they catch fish too;
They have no conquering ambition,
But man can’t stand good competition.

Because their skills stick in his craw,
Man thinks of ways to write a law
To punish them for their success,
So greedy man can keep excess.

Man once was part of nature’s rules,
He culled just what he needed;
Now will he wipe out all the rest,
And think he has succeeded?

The lethal traps that man now sets
Will backfire in his face;
If other species get wiped out,
There’ll be no human race.

For our survival tight is linked
To others on the earth;
Each form of life plays vital roles,
No one can tell the worth.

How grandiose of us to think
That we can know what’s right;
Of who should live and who should die,
As if we had God’s sight.

By John Cannon
C.A.S.H. Member