Nature’s Sorrow & Nature’s Joys: Poems for Reflection and Action

What if many desirable things in nature were no longer there?--clean air, freshly grown vegetables, wildflowers, a waterfall, a green forest, spring rains, colors of flowers, a willow tree, fresh trout from a stream, autumn leaves, sunrise, sunset, mineral-rich farmland, etc. What if in a few years global warming and its devasting effects so damaged the earth, its atmosphere, and its resources, that many of these things were no longer possible? These poems address openly both the sorrows we face with forces that destroy nature and the things we celebrate in nature that provide much of humankind's joy and sustenance. Some may ask appropriately, "What difference can a poet's words make in correcting the paths of nature's destruction down which humankind is traveling?" Certainly, words alone cannot save nature. Perhaps poetry can help to shape a new understanding of human failure, as well as to shape new visions of hope for the nature we know and are ever discovering.

S T Kimbrough Jr. holds a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary and is currently a research fellow of the Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition of Duke Divinity School, He has taught on leading theological faculties in Europe (Bonn University) and the USA (Princeton, New Brunswick, Wesley [Washington, DC], and Drew). He has published over sixty volumes on diverse subjects (history, music, art, biblical studies, theology, English literature) including a dozen books of poetry. He is also an internationally known baritone (under the name Steven Kimbrough) who has specialized in the art songs of expatriate German and Austrian Jewish composers, having recorded numerous albums of this literature for leading recording companies in Europe and the USA.