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, 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. ~Jean Pearson~

May all thing move and be moved in me
and know and be known in me
May all creation
dance for joy within me.
~Chinook Psalter~

Breath freezes on my lips to moan:
as one alone once not alone,
I sit and knock at Nature's door,
Heart-bare, heart-hungry, very poor,
Whose desolated days go on.
I knock and cry,-Undone, undone!
Is there no help, no comfort,-none?
No gleaning in the wide wheat-plains
Where others drive their loaded wains?
My vacant days go on, go on.
This Nature, though the snows be down,
Thinks kindly of the bird of June:
The red hip on the tree
Is ripe for such.  What is for me,
Whose days so winterly go on?
No bird am I, to sing in June
And dare not ask an equal boon.
Good nests and berries red are Nature's
To give away to better creatures,-
And yet my days go on, go on.
~Elizabeth Barret Browning~
  (excerpts taken from)
     De Profundis

Auguries of Innocence
To see a World in a grain of sand,
and Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all Heaven in a rage.
A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons
Shudders Hell thro' all its regions.
A dog starv'd at his masters gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A horse misus'd upon the road
Call to Heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.
A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight
Does the rising sun affright.
Every wolf's and lion's howl
Raises from Hell a Human soul.
The wild deer wandering here and there,
Keeps the Human from care.
The lamb misus'd breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butcher's knife.
The bat that flits at the close of eve,
Has left the brain that won't believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever's fright.
He who shall hurt the wren
Shall never be belov'd by men.
He who the ox to wrath has mov'd
Shall never be by woman lov'd.
The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider's enmity.
He who torments the chafer's sprite
Weaves a bowers in the endless night.
The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother's grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the Last Judgment draweth nigh.
He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar's dog and widow's cat
Feed them, and thou wilt grow fat.
The gnat that sings his summer song
Posion gets from slanders tongue.
The posion of the snake and the newt
Is the sweat of Envy's foot.
The poison of the honey-bee
Is the artist's jealousy.
The princes's robes and the beggar's rags
Are toadstools on the misers bags.
A truth's that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly now,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine;
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
The babe is more than swaddling bands;
Throughout all these human lands
Tools were made, and born were hands,
Every farmer understands.
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in Eternity;
This is caught by Females bright,
And return'd to it's own delight.
The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar
Are waves that beat on Heaven's shore.
The babe that weeps the rod beneath
writes revenge in realms of death.
The beggar's rags, fluttering in air,
Does to rags the heavens tear.
The soldier, arm'd with sword and gun,
Palsied strikes the summer's sun.
The poor man's farthing is worth more
Than all the the gold on Afric's shore.
One mite wrung from the labourer's hands
Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;
Or, if protected from on high,
Does that whole nation sell and buy,
He who mocks the infant's faith
Shall be mock'd in Age and Death.
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave he shall never get out.
He who respects the infant's faith
Triumphs over Hell and Death.
The child's toys and the old man's reasons
Are the fruits of two seasons.
The questioner, who sits so sly,
Shall never know how to reply.
He who replies to words of Doubt
Doth put the light of knowledge out.
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Cesar's laurel crown.
Nought can deform the human race
Like  the armour's iron brace.
When gold and gems adorn the  plough
To peaceful arts shall Envy bow.
A riddle, or the cricket's cry,
Is to Doubt a fit reply.
The emmet's inch and eagle's mile
Make lame Philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.
If the Sun and Moon doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
To be in a passion you good may do,
But no good if a passion is in you.
The whore and the gambler, by the state
Licensed, build that's nation's fate.
The harlot's cry from street to street
Shal weave Old England's winding sheet.
The winner's shout, the loser's curse,
Dance before dead England's hearse.
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born.
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.
We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night, to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.
God appears and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in Night;
But does a Human Form display
To those who dwell in realms of Day.

Voice of the Voiceless
I am the Voice of the Voiceless
Through me the dumb shall speak 
'Til the world's deaf ear be made to hear
The wrongs of the wordless weak.
Oh shame on the mothers of mortals
Who do not stoop to teach
The sorrow that lies in dear dumb eyes
The sorrow that has no speech.
From street, from cage, from kennel
From stable and from zoo
The wail of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail.
But I am my brother's keeper
And I shall fight their fight
And speak the word for beast and bird
Till the world shall set things right.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox-

Ah how the woods seem so bright and clear
Nature in all her pristine glory as winter draws near
From whence come thy twigs and crown
From the passing of thine furry down
To each in their own heart let them wonder
And thru the eyes of the mistic shall each be found
~Keith Hard~
(A friend I met on the WWW)

In the universal sense, 
love is the divine power of attraction in 
creation that harmonizes, unites, 
binds together....Those who live in 
tune with the attractive force of love 
achieve harmony with nature and their
fellow beings, and are attracted to 
blissful reunion with God. 
~Paramahansa Yogananda~

Praise be my Lord God for all his creatures, 
and especially for our brother the sun, 
who brings us the day and who brings us the light; 
fair is he and shines with a very great splendor..
Praise be my Lord for our sister the moon, 
and for the stars, the which he has set
clear and lovely in heaven.
Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind, 
and for air and cloud, calms and all weather...
Praise be my Lord for our sister water, 
who is very serviceable unto us and
humble and precious and clean.
Praise be my Lord for our brother fire, 
through whom thou givest us light in darkness, 
and he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong.
Praise be my Lord for our mother the earth, 
and the which doth sustain us and keep us, 
and bringeth forth divers fruits and flowers of many colors and grass...
Praise ye and bless my Lord, and give Him thanks, 
and serve Him with great humility.
~St. Francis of Assisi~ 1181-1226

A Prayer for Animals
Hear our humble prayer, O God for our friends the animals. 
Especially for animals wo are suffering; 
for any that are hunted, or lost or deserted 
or frightened or hungry; 
for all that must be put to death.  
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity, 
and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of 
compassion and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends
to animals and so to share the blessings
of the merciful.
~Albert Schwietzer~

Earth’s Dying
God made the earth both land and sea.
He made every bush, flower and tree.
God made the tuna, the flounder and bass, 
and gave us resources in a great mass.
He did all this to fulfill our need.
Instead we’ve used them for our own selfish greed.
There was a time when we could fish,
or hunt for game to fill our dish.
Now man has made the sea, his own dumping ground,
and the forest that was is now a compound.
So once land and sea are barren and dead,
how can these men expect to be fed?
~Dvinal~
(a friend I met here in this wonderful place the WWW)

"The greatness of a nation can be judged
by the way its animals are treated"
~Gandhi~

The only calendar I need is just outside my window.
With eyes to see and ears to hear,
nature keeps me posted.
~Alfred A Montepart~

Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections,
predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal.
Difficult standards for people to live up to.
~Alfred A Montepart~