Shepherding the Wind

Hosea isn’t exactly my favorite book of the Bible, but it does include the marvelous phrase “shepherding the wind,” which caught my ear recently during morning prayer and inspired the following poem.

Acquiescence

Humans who believe

they can command nature

to do their bidding

by shepherding the wind

with gigantic turbines,

seeding clouds to make it rain,

and capturing the sun’s

radiance in solar panels

eventually will be humbled—

whether through gales,

drought, or the limits

of technology—

and cease their efforts

to bend the natural world

to their will, instead

observing it as closely as

one watches one’s beloved,

accepting her independence,

marveling in her strength,

abandoning attempts to dictate

the terms of a relationship

but seeking only to accompany

her on the byways of life,

to dwell in the presence

of her loveliness and

contentment with who she is,

learning from her at last

the secret of how to flow

with life’s mystery.