Page 11 of The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam 2)

We pray that we may not fall into the error of pride by considering ourselves as exceptional, alone in all Creation in having Souls; and that we will not vainly imagine that we are set above all other Life, and may destroy it at our pleasure, and with impunity.

We thank Thee, oh God, for having made us in such a way as to remind us, not only of our less than Angelic being, but also of the knots of DNA and RNA that tie us to our many fellow Creatures.

Let us sing.

OH LET ME NOT BE PROUD

Oh let me not be proud, dear Lord,

Nor rank myself above

The other Primates, through whose genes

We grew into your Love.

A million million years, Your Days,

Your methods past discerning,

Yet through Your blend of DNAs

Came passion, mind, and learning.

We cannot always trace Your path

Through Monkey and Gorilla,

Yet all are sheltered underneath

Your Heavenly Umbrella.

And if we vaunt and puff ourselves

With vanity and pride,

Recall Australopithecus,

Our Animal inside.

So keep us far from worser traits,

Aggression, anger, greed;

Let us not scorn our lowly birth,

Nor yet our Primate seed.

From The God's Gardeners Oral Hymnbook

11

REN

YEAR TWENTY-FIVE

When I'm thinking back over that night -- the night the Waterless Flood first began -- I can't recall anything out of t

he ordinary. Around seven o'clock I was feeling hungry, so I got a Joltbar from the minifridge and ate half of it. I only ever ate half of anything because a girl with my body type can't afford to blimp up. I once asked Mordis if I should get bimplants, but he said I could play underage in a dim light, and there was heavy demand for the schoolgirl act.

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