STARBURST

     She had been orbiting the Earth for thousands of years.  Waiting and watching for things to change.  Promotion was one of her greatest powers, though she had many gifts: The Ten Commandments, The Quaran, the wisdom and insight of Buddha, as well as whispering into the ears of Jesus.  She had been so many faces to men on that blue-green marvel:  Mother, Teacher, Lover, and Friend, but it had failed to free them from their greed and hatred of each other.  The sadness remained.  How did men repay her?  With war, stupidity, pollution of the land and seas, and the escalating rape of the Earth's rich natural resources.

     Now the Great Ones are calling her home, back to the heavens above to release her from her task.  In the air, their collective voices echo her name on the wind, their refrain "Hope, Hope, your day here is done"!  Her response is nothing more than "Please, one more chance"!  But the wind has fallen silent.  She descends onto a cliff, on this worlds greatest mountain.  As she surveys the Earth one last time, she screams "Father, my Fathers why will they not learn"!  "Hope, Hope, your day here is done" the wind answers in anger!  Wings spread, she soars towards the heavens, gathering her immortal powers for one last try.  Like a star exploding in space, she showers the Earth with diamonds; a STARBURST!  Like rain they fall upon the Earth, scattered across every continent.  She hears the thunder and lightening below.  Suddenly one voice rises through the heavens:  "I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors".  She smiles as she soars into the blackness of space, thinking maybe, just maybe they'll make it!