Sunday, October 29, 2017

To Restore the Soul of the Earth to Wholeness

Sunlight Through Trees
by Stephanie Oien
This is my daughter's yard - 
she lives in a forest outside of Victoria, so beautiful.


The wild is the soul of the earth.
Mother Earth speaks to us
through whale and wolf and tree.
She sings to us in rainfall
on parched earth,
in windsong through the branches
of tall cedar,
in birdsong on 
a golden autumn morning.

She speaks to those of us
who are listening.
We weep together
over those who are not.

Visit an old tree.
Place your hands on her trunk
and listen.
She will tell you her story.
Under the ground,
her roots reach out to
all the others.
They hold hands,
quaking in fear
as the grappleyarders come.

We are a voracious species.
We devour our own home.

If you listen to the song of the river,
it will tell you
that the earth is struggling.
In drought, it dries up,
fish flapping limply in stagnant pools,
unable to make their way.
When the voice of the river falls silent,
when the wildfires burn,
when Mother Earth heaves and tosses in storm,
when bears swim for miles
in a warming, polluted sea,
it is long past time
to awaken:
to plant trees,
to clear the streams and clean the ocean,
to legislate reduced emissions and carbon tax,
to turn off fossil fuel and turn on clean energy.
Time to cool the earth
with loving hands.
Time to restore the soul of the earth
to wholeness.



I am heartened by some of the people across the planet who are doing this work of healing Mother Earth, like the Tree Sisters, inspiring women all over the world to fulfil their goal of planting a billion trees. I hope humankind will work together in time. If we don't, I know Mother Earth will survive, and begin again. But she is trying so hard to help us live, even while we are destroying her. Rivers, trees, whales, fish......all are warning us, with much distress, if only we will listen.


1 comment:

  1. Nice.

    I was in the mountains this weekend, enjoying the song of the trees and the rocks. Even added a bit of my song to it as well.

    So full a silence away from it all.

    What a beautiful picture as well. Sorry for my silence when you came calling a few months ago. I am back to life now.

    ReplyDelete

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