SkyEarth Letters

Thankful I am for the beauty of this earth
its mountains, plains, and rivers
its web of species
the miracle of the air we breathe
the preciousness of the water we drink

yet I cannot be thankful
that so many people are blind to earth's finiteness
blind to their overuse, misuse, and abuse of this earth

thankful I am to live in a time and place
where women are considered
equal in rights and capabilities

yet I cannot be thankful
that your name, O Sacred One,
is used to shame and beat and stone
and keep ignorant millions of women and girls

thankful I am to live in a fairly peaceable land
where religious divisions are argued with only words

yet I cannot be thankful
that in so many countries
religious wars are fought
with guns and bombs and fire and silencing

thankful I am that I have sufficient to meet my needs
and need not beg for sustenance

yet I cannot be thankful
that many people continually demand more
raping earth's natural resources to provide this excess
while so many other people have so little

thankful I have been to live in this country
free from fear of death or imprisonment
for my beliefs

yet I cannot be thankful
for this country's leadership eroding that freedom
nor their threatening the lives of women and men and children
in other countries

we have so much, O Sacred One
that it is hard to put ourselves
in the place of the woman and child
in a refugee camp
whose home is a bowl of dirt covered by a thin cloth
whose food mere grains
whose water comes a dirty cup at a time

where is your shining light, O Sacred One?
where is the hope of this world?

within each one of us
whether fearfully shuttered or
cautiously glimmering or
blazing forth

each one of us carries your shining light
we are your hope in this world

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I pray that we awaken to each other's goodness
and "beloved" becomes our cry of friendship

before the earth and its peoples are irretrievably damaged