A belated Earth-Day poem for your inspiration…

In Praise of the Earth
 
 Let us bless
 The imagination of the Earth.
 That knew early the patience
 To harness the mind of time,
 Waited for the seas to warm,
 Ready to welcome the emergence
 Of things dreaming of voyaging
 Among the stillness of land.
 
 And how light knew to nurse
 The growth until the face of the Earth
 Brightened beneath a vision of color.
 
 When the ages of ice came
 And sealed the Earth inside
 An endless coma of cold,
 The heart of the Earth held hope,
 Storing fragments of memory,
 Ready for the return of the sun.
 
 Let us thank the Earth
 That offers ground for home
 And holds our feet firm
 To walk in space open
 To infinite galaxies.
 
 Let us salute the silence
 And certainty of mountains:
 Their sublime stillness,
 Their dream-filled hearts.
 
 The wonder of a garden
 Trusting the first warmth of spring
 Until its black infinity of cells
 Becomes charged with dream;
 Then the silent, slow nurture
 Of the seed’s self, coaxing it
 To trust the act of death.
 
 The humility of the Earth
 That transfigures all
 That has fallen
 Of outlived growth.
 
 The kindness of the Earth,
 Opening to receive
 Our worn forms
 Into the final stillness.
 
 Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth
 For all our sins against her:
 For our violence and poisonings
 Of her beauty.
 
 Let us remember within us
 The ancient clay,
 Holding the memory of seasons,
 The passion of the wind,
 The fluency of water,
 The warmth of fire,
 The quiver-touch of the sun
 And shadowed sureness of the moon.
 
 That we may awaken,
 To live to the full
 The dream of the Earth
 Who chose us to emerge
 And incarnate its hidden night
 In mind, spirit, and light.
 
 ~ John O’Donohue ~
 
 (To Bless the Space Between Us)

#inspiration #poetry