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.