“Wide green world, we know and love you:
Clear blue skies that arch above you,
Moon-tugged oceans rising, falling,
Summer rain and cuckoo calling.
Some wild ancient ferment bore us,
Us, and all that went before us:
Life in desert, forest, mountain,
Life in stream and springing fountain.
We know how to mould and tame you,
We have power to mar and maim you.
Show us by your silent growing
That which we should all be knowing:
We are of you, not your master,
We who plan supreme disaster.
If with careless greed we use you
Inch by extinct inch we lose you.
May our births and deaths remind us
Others still will come behind us.
That they also may enjoy you
We with wisdom will employ you.
That our care may always bless you
Teach us we do not possess you.
We are part and parcel of you.
Wide green world, we share and love you.”
Dr. June Bell, Unitarian poet and hymn writer
Chorlton Unitarians 