Yesterday we met, as families,
As adults with children,
As women, as men, as human beings.
We sang together and
Moved our bodies.
The children sang with us
And added their mischief.
A beautiful altar was created
Of autumnal leaves and
Fruits and scented herbs and
A cacophony of
Conkers.
To the river,
We sang our blessings
Around the altar
Filling it with the
prayer of our hearts:
For clean, clear waters,
For drinkable rivers,
For thriving life.
Today, with a bundle
Wrapped from the altar,
With my daughter I
Went to the river.
I felt her before
I saw her.
The ease that filtered
Through the sinews
Of skin and blood and bone.
I felt the buoyancy in
My own being,
A collective presence
Of life more than just
My own.
My cells vibrating with
The fecundity of
Damp ground
Dripping leaves and
Pregnant river.
I knelt before her
With the bundle.
And, at first, I spoke.
I spoke to
Introduce myself and
Why I have come.
I spoke about the
Deepest wish I have
For humanity to remember
Our relatedness to her,
To nature,
To life.
I apologised for the
Part we all play
In what is befalling her
Without her consent,
For the part in all
Of us that is overcome
By greed and lack.
And I offered her
Our blessings through
This bundle,
Asking her if she would like
To receive it.
I felt an opening and
A welcoming.
And I sang to her
The song I wrote for her
As I let the bundle
Tumble into her
Welcoming belly.
I had the sense of
Being there with multiple
Generations:
My daughter, me and
The one mother that has
Never failed to give us
All that we need:
Earth.
May we remember our
Reciprocity with her.
May we remember our
Interrelatedness,
May we remember our
Community which
Expands through humanity
And into all life.
(you can hear my daughter here… calling after the pear x)