We Belong

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We belong to the earth and sky, 

a part of the wonder of it all:

rock cliffs and small, unfolding ferns, 

and quacking, paddling ducks. We are 

one with it all,

if we open our heart and our eye.

We belong. Not as the arrogant lord 

of the beasts and the fields,

but molecule for molecule, with the same right to be

as the birds in the air, the fish in the sea,

are we.

We belong, as the elephant, 

ambling across the savanna,

the same will to live in the marrow of our bones:

we are creatures of this earth,  each living out our lives

of joy, pain and struggle, 

no less the tiger mother licking her child’s downy head, 

protecting its life,

than we, praying over our child’s bed

for her long life and safety. We belong

to the earth and the sky, and all in between:

the radiant beauty, the storm and the struggle,

the glory and grit of it all,

the splendor, the song.

To it all, we belong.