PSALM OF NATURE

PSALM OF NATURE

1. Here I sit looking through the window at your creation:

but I am also created, a piece of your making -

2. fresh air from your world beyond comes into my nostrils:

your breath builds up my blood, and gets into my brain!

3. Even while sitting and breathing I belong to your world:

where does my body end, and nature begin?

4. This earth is not just another thing outside myself:

your whole creation is a mystery of which I'm a part.

5. In our own eyes we think of ourselves as distinct and different:

we feel that humanity can dominate the beasts and the earth,

6. but we cannot simply be selfish, we'll have to repent:

we must turn ourselves round before nature bites back;

7. the trees and the animals we've exploited, we'd now like to save:

to begin to plan for the future and learn from the past,

8. for everything is your creating and we can treasure it:

even if we damage our surroundings, we'll value the planet.

9. To be able to be fully human, we need your creation:

and I need other people, to be really myself,

10. so nature requires us also to be part of her life:

I rely on the natural world so that I can survive.

11. We all can join in the dance with your world of nature:

we share the music of the spheres, and you are our teacher,

12. for even the dance of death helps others to live:

Lord of the dance, let me be your partner.

(Based on an article by Nigel Cooper `Partnering Nature' in Crucible 4/1992.)