Quit Hewning Around – A poem for Parsha Yitro

When you make Me an altar of stones, you must not build it with hewn stones, for if you lift your sword over a stone intended for the altar to cut it, you will profane it. ~ Exodus 20:22

Like God, I prefer a natural look to things.
I keep telling our gardener to let the leaves
grow where they may and it would be fine

if the grass had the chance to ascend a few inches
into the sky before applying the guillotines of his trade.
He’s obsessive with his mower.

Nature is always trying to reach the sun, and we hope
it never gets there because that would be the end of it.
The scientists keep telling us the end of it

is coming soon if we keep hewning everything
the way we’ve been doing. But it may not matter
because one look at the news and we can see

science and scientists will soon be illegal.
They’re sending the scientists to the border
along with the tax collectors to make sure

none of that Canadian energy gets in without
paying the fee. We keep chopping up the Earth.
We keep changing oxygen into something

less desirable. We keep vigilant against
the rainforests lest they keep us alive.
We keep extincting the animals because

their numbers make us uncomfortable.
Look at the beavers. Not a hewn stick
on any of their homes. Beautiful.

We could learn everything from the beavers.

Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 28 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Visit him at www.JewishPoetry.net