When creatures meant to roam the wild

When creatures meant to roam the wild

find freedom snatched away,

in cages locked or bound in chains

and suffering from our wounds and pains,

forgive us, God, we pray.

 

Stout lions, meant to roam in grasslands

free and unrestrained,

or tigers of the forest lands

are captured by foul human hands,

for human fun detained.

 

Sleek panthers, cougars, leopards, and

bobcats and cheetahs too,

were made by God for roaming free,

not held as "curiosity,"

bound in a "roadside zoo."

 

Those who exploit our human yearn

for entertaining sights

breed creatures such for human gaze

in painful and unnatural ways,

all for our vain delights.

 

For creatures bound in such conditions,

God, we humbly pray;

but even more, strike down our yearn

for painful fun, and let us learn

to hate such harmful play.

 

Teach us respect for all of life

in each and every way;

teach us to love them in their place,

not snatch them from their sacred space;

Good God, change us today.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2026

MUSIC: Tune REST, Frederick Charles Maker, 1887

 

 

Prompted by a discussion at this morning's Routley Lecture at the PAM Worship & Music Conference, on creation (specifically "critters") in hymnody (short form: there's not much). I do have "All creatures of our God on high" on the record, but the discussion provoked another text, on a darker side of human fascination with wild cats.