The Beauty and the Bland

The Beauty and the Bland

Some of God’s green Earth is inhospitable.
Not all places on Earth are suitable for life.
I am being redundant to focus my thoughts
On those places where survival is a greater challenge.

There are some obvious examples
Such as the extreme polar regions of Earth;
And Death Valley and the Saharan Desert
Sound like places I would choose not to stay.

Then there are those smaller spots on Earth
Which have a personality all their own;
It is as if the Creator woke up cranky some mornings
And created a few spots which reflected His mood.

I was familiar with such a place in my youth—
A sixty acre piece of land where to this day I choose not to stand:
A place so scarred and angry with man’s intrusion—
I was confident it lay awake at night devising plans to spite.

The land was red faced and pitted with scars
Where man with his agricultural tools had broken all the rules
Which promoted erosion and hastened onset of corrosion
Of what wholesomeness this Land brought to bear in its youth.

It is better now for me to forget the anger and the hate
This piece of land expressed to me on many occasions.
Suffice it to say I learned some of Hell on many occasional days.
Yet better now to recall the joy and love of life I had as a boy.

So why now do I recall this most angry spot of Earth?
Since it too is one of us – part of God’s creative plan:
To create some beauty and, yes, some bland
Living Life together hand in hand.