A Prayer for Mother Earth
Dear Heaven,
Speak to us, flash your sword,
Shake us up, awaken us.
Pour your liquid gold radiance into the crevices
Of our sluggish consciousness.
Help us to comprehend your miracles.
The sea-crab, the mountain goat, the shongoglolo,
The stalking gecko at my feet.
How on earth did it happen that creation’s wonders are ignored,
Taken for granted,
Destroyed,
Degraded?
I rest on my favourite granite rockseat
On the trail below my homestead,
Revelling in the robin’s song,
Inhaling the loveliness, the agelessness of this land,
My fingers caressing wild thyme,
My bare toes tingling with billion years old crystal energy
Released on this land, moment by moment,
The sun dips as I reflect again on our planet in change,
Our planet in pain,
Our planet in vision,
In deep mourning as untold populations suffer bereavement and terror;
Small children, the aged, condemned, yet innocent,
Entreating heaven for justice and simultaneously entreating heaven for oblivion.
Unpredictable, so they say, inexplicable
Earthquakes, typhoons, ripping and tearing at the planet.
Seas swell and deluge,
Multi-millions flee, hide, are homeless,
While politicians assess the damage in currency,
Playing money games as they have always done
Until this day.
And now it is too late to undo the damage,
To clear the deep oceans of depth charges rocking the sea,
Gouging out marvels, colonies of underwater life,
As our Earth Mother weeps and mourns,
The very essence, the patterns of life extinguished one by one.
This evening’s sunset takes my breath away
And I come to life among these rocks
As the purple crested loerie’s song explodes above us,
The feather dress a fashion show fit for kings.
As they feed and preen they lift my sombre mood
And I laugh up at them in gratitude
For sharing their loveliness,
For seeding hope and harmony in my heart.
And so I slowly circle back home,
My four faithful doglets romping joyously
As green pigeons start to chant their rocking, roosting call,
So contrasting to the crested barbet’s single-note, purring song.
Dr Sue Hart. © 2003.