I am the earth, even when I wake up crying.
These are the earth’s tears – the ocean of suffering belongs to her.
I am the earth speaking to you now, and you are the earth listening with your precious ears.
I am the earth walking through my doubts and fears and hopes and dreams and sadness and loneliness and joy.
But I am also the rain falling and the birds singing with joys that bless the world.
I’m getting washed all over by my tears and my hopes as rain continues to fall.
I am celebrating the miracle of every earth breath, every earth sigh, every earth smile, every earth hug and every earth touch of kindness that brings me home.
I am the earth, and so are you.
by Larry Ward
Another Earth poem following last week’s Earth Day, and like the poem I posted a week ago, it’s author is called Larry. This Larry is the inspirational Dr Larry Ward of the Lotus Institute. He is one of Zen Master/activist Thich Nhat Hanh’s senior dharma teachers and I am inspired by his deep commitment to social change, authentic practice and mindfulness in relationships, including in the book he co-authored called Love’s Garden.
The poem speaks of his deep relationship with the earth and the teaching that Thich Nhat Hanh also often emphasises: that joy and pain are not so separate and opposite as they may seem on the surface. Pure aliveness in all its various forms!
PS If you’d like to explore treading lighter on the earth in terms of your carbon footprint by looking into the details of this in a compassionate, supportive context, you can join our next 6 week course on Mindful Consuming which starts on the 4th of May…