To Honor our Planet and Poetry

by Jane Elsdon

In April we honor two things for which many earthlings share passionate love: our planet and poetry. April 22nd marks the worldwide observance of Earth Day through the planting of trees, the general greening of the sphere, and other countless acts of service and stewardship. And all month long in myriad ways, especially in our schools and libraries, poetry is celebrated.

These facts were on my mind at the same time we were focusing on the extremity of the statewide California drought -- the worst in our state's recorded history. We received news that water usage must be cut by twenty percent.

Gene and I discussed what we could do to help. We bought a couple of dishpans, a small bucket, and a five gallon bucket in which to catch dishwashing and shower water. With dedication we started watering our outdoor flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees at about the same time we were blessed with days of intermittent rain. We found that those simple acts somehow strengthen the already present relationship between us and our own personal plot of earth. It's a lovely thing. It also tightens the invisible bond between us and earthlings worldwide. Gratitude for our earthly home follows as night follows day.

This all reminded me of an earth day presentation I once made at the Unity Church in Cambria some years back. Its affect is that of a quiet meditation. When we're longing for rain, as we have been, it's balm to the spirit to focus on all the things we love that are available to us right now. I like to think that such an exercise often acts as a rain dance of the spirit.

So as Earth Day calls forth gratitude for earth in all its elements and forms: land, mountains, plains, forests, ocean, rivers, lakes, atmosphere, and air, let's follow our thoughts as they amble through the alphabet of just a few things we love
and enjoy them in a contemplative poetic form.

Painting by Gene Elsdon Such Love is This: Acorns, aspens, azaleas, and autumn Bees and birds, blossoms and berries, beaches, bushes, birches, branches, bamboo, butterflies, and soft gentle breezes Clouds, crystal caves, creeks, crickets, colts, and coral bells Dunes, daisies, dawn and fresh morning dew, delphiniums, deer, doves, and dolphins Eagles and elephants, elms and everlasting Fire and fireflies, flickers, foxgloves, fish, feathers, forests and fragrant flowers, frogs, and far-ranging fields Gardens and grasses, geese and goldenrod, granite and goldfinches Hedgehogs, hills, honeycombs, and hummingbirds whirring, herons, honeysuckle curling, Heaven on earth. Thank you.

Such Love is This: Islands, ibis, and iris of colors beyond counting Larks, lilacs, leaves, and lichen. Logs, lilies, and endless light Mallow and milkweed, moss and morning glories, meadows, Mountains, and mockingbirds music Orchids and oaks, orchards and owls Petals and pods, paths and palm trees, ponds and pastures, Peaches, pears, pine trees and petunias, puppies, peacocks And snowy plovers Quail, quiet, quarks, quarries, quartz, quirts Raccoons, ravens, redwoods, countless roses, rocks, rivers, and ridges, Roots, rain, winding roads, and the rhapsody of natural bridges.   Such Love is This: Sweeping space, seeds n’ shooting stars, sky, stones, sand, seas, seagulls, starfish, and shimmering shores, shade, sparrows, spring, summer, and shining silver snow Twilight, tadpoles and tigers, tide pools and trees, trees of green, pygmy trees and lush towering trees sea urchins and umbrella trees Vines and violets, wrens and whales, waves, waterfalls, and weeping willows, wind n’ water lilies with leaves like round pillows, Xanadu and xylosma yams, yaks, yeast, Our sweet bread basket earth Our Eden since birth Our Heaven on earth. Thank you.