PSALM OF REVERENCE

PSALM OF REVERENCE

1. I bow to the birds in the Arctic:

I acknowledge the landscape around me

in darkness and cold.

2. Our earth is itself an organism:

seen as a whole from space, it's like a plant or animal;

3. though we still don't understand its life:

there are yet more areas of wilderness for us to study.

4. Have you ever heard silence like the sound up north:

or have you met God whose sound is silence?

5. This wilderness is beyond our habitation:

yet there are creatures here that do find a living.

6. New lands are exciting places - we like to be curious:

the borders of things are attractive for us to discover.

7. We come with assumptions of what to expect:

in a region that's unexplored we want to take charge of it;

8. yet to battle with hostile elements is not why we go:

but to learn to live a new life and see what it offers us.

9. So I respectfully bow towards all this land is:

because of its boundless riches in unlikely places.

10. Human beings have power over other creatures:

technology gives us the feeling that we're in control,

11. but we'll need to practice restraint:

we must learn when to defer to what's around us.

12. Mother earth has nurtured us well:

we'll only destroy ourselves unless we acknowledge her;

13. the coral reefs are shrinking through human pollution:

tropical forests are cleared by companies exploiting them;

14. if we continue to over-fish, we'll lose a livelihood:

if we selfishly use all resources, the earth will reject us.

15. It's possible to survive and live well on this planet:

I make a deep bow to the land with its wonderful riches.

16. Our ancestors were able to live here adjusted to nature:

we are disturbing the balance and losing respect for the earth,

17. in such an abundance of life, help us, God, to revere it:

to make our bow to this earth

and acknowledge your goodness.

(Inspired by Barry Lopez in `Arctic Deams'.)