Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The Mississippi, the Nile, the Tigris, the Rhine, the Danube, the Yangtze, the Indus, the Ganges, the Amazon are waterways for man but they are blood vessels for the Earth. Pollution of the waterways is no less than poisoning of the blood of Mother Earth.
The river deltas where the sweet river opens into the ocean is where fish and birds are born and there start the cycles of the life of the Earth; so the river deltas are like the opening of the birth canal or womb of Mother Earth. Notice the intercourse between the rhythmical ocean waves and the sweet water in the estuaries of the river deltas where fish grow and birds are born.
Human industrial advances have led to great abuses of nature that only now are beginning to be contained. Now there are departments in universities dedicated to the study of environmental, atmospheric, chemical, biological pollution and imbalances caused by human societies. The greatest of pollutants, the splitting of the atom, is due to be contained by the awakening of men to the unalienable rights of all babies to live in harmony and peace with the Earth – the rights of all, from the baby dolphin in the ocean to the baby chimpanzee in the Congo, to the baby squirrel that has just opened his eyes at the UCLA botanical garden.
All babies’ individual rights to the pursuit of life and happiness must not be abridged or usurped; along with the rights of the trees in the forest they must be held as unalienable rights of all creatures. This must be upheld with devotion by the hearts of both women and men who are sensitive to the life of the Earth. This is not to say that we cannot cut down trees or drill for oil, but a control of farming chemicals and practices must be kept and a balance between industrial production and natural resources must be studied well. We need leaders with spiritual sensitivity who feel the life of the Earth, not one who can “turn his head and pretend that he doesn’t see,” as Bob Dylan once sang in “Blowing in the Wind.”
Very often we forget that the Earth is our Mother. We forget to see her as a living creature as ourselves though much, much larger – her breath is the wind, her heart is the ocean, the comfort of her mind is our peace.
Song of Mother Earth
I’m your Mother Earth
Do you see me my Beloved Children?
Sun and water are my eyes.
Earth and water is my flesh.
My voice speaks the wind and the clouds.
My tears are rain showers that bring life from the dead.
The mountain streams are precious to my Beloved.
By our love, in their beauty, you were conceived.
My fresh flowing spring-water channel opens to give life,
when the sweet river meets the salty waves.
This is where all my Children are born.
The deserts are my backbones.
Jungle rivers are my jugular veins.
Through the wind and leaves I hear.
And my clouds bring forth the rain.
The forces of electricity and gravity are the nerves of my spine.
The densest forest I sweep when my flowers need space.
Ocean flames of purple coral flow through the four chambers of my heart.
Alaskan snow covers the top of my head.
As my Beloved’s day progresses melting ice awakens my face.
Most of the time I am asleep folded in your dreams;
but when you awaken in me, I receive the key that conquers hell;
and from death opens the door into life.
Each one through a new door, all of my Children are born.
My feet are fire and iron and when aroused in anger
do my lava dragons speak fire rain.
The cities are pebbles, my ocean bowl would sweep in one shake.
My mouth opens in earthquakes
when disrespect for life poison hunger strikes my caves.
My human feet are walking sand in the wind
when in vein my rivers they step;
and those who hear my music walk on water fly on clouds,
because light and kind is their flesh.
Each child is a new thought of grace conceived in the heart of my Beloved,
all of my Children are born.
Even the whole Pacific Ocean could not contain
my Beloved’s love for me;
nor the sweetness of the Great Lakes my boundless joy.
The swamps, the estuaries, the river deltas are all filled with my life.
Joy makes rapid the currents that flow through my heart;
that makes the breath of my westerly wind prevail.
When the sun heat beats upon my shoreline
mists rise that sing the joy of my heart.
These mists are laden with the notes of the music from the breast of my Beloved.
From His heart my breast if filled with love
to suckle the trees with the dewdrops of my Beloved’s Song of Life.
Each child is a new song conceived in the heart of my Beloved,
all of my Children are born.
The stars in the night are the thoughts of my mind.
They give my eyes vision of tomorrow’s day.
Guided by the moontide my heart beats twice a day.
Thunder and lightning comes from the One I love
to clear my forest with fire and rain.
Periodically in the spring after the rain washes my forest
my Beloved plants His seed in my bosom
and fresh flowers of sweet fruit grow.
My Beloved adorned me with a wedding ring, a pearl of light
and a necklace of diamond stars!
My hair is the trees in your forest!
From my breast you drink sweet fruits and vegetables!
Each child is a new star of hope light from the breast of my Beloved,
all of my Children are born.
Why should my children fight
and their blood be spilled into the ground;
and My heart be filled with sorrow and pain.
Let us come together.
I am your Mother Earth and you are my beloved children.
Let us come together in prayer.
Let us call for a minute of silent prayer on King’s day.
Let us ask our Father’s help for insight and direction.
Take each other’s hand, show me my children that you care for me
by cherishing all your brothers and sisters.
For the children that went to school cheerfully and innocently
expecting to return to the smiling faces of their parents;
give us dear Father the insight and understanding
to turn the swords to plowshires and the spears to pruning forks.
Hasten dear Father the commimg of Your Glory upon your beloved our Mother Earth.
Breath into us dear Father a spirit of grace that will teach and develop the army of healing,
that will learn war no more.
Come and sit by my side my beloved close to the Earth,
as the Stream is cascading over soft pebbles to the Sea.
Let us unite our hearts in prayer to our Father,
as the staircasing waves of light lift our hearts in song.
I heard my beloved speak to me yesterday.
His voice was tender and sweet.
He said, “Give me your hand my beloved.
Let us stroll through the Garden of Life.
“Do you see the gentle rivulets of love
flowing between the canyons of my heart?
“The boulders on the banks of the canyon will guard you,” he said.
“Do you see the beautiful clouds writing psalms
on the heavenly blue sky and the leaves singing in the wind?
“Your limbs are graceful like the shorelines
of the continents, my beloved.
“Your water of life upon my dry sand
lubricates the sinews of my spine
so I can move smoothly
without sudden shakes and quakes.
Your love gives the visions
Of my heart a purpose and life.”
My beloved held my hand in the silent night
in the forest in the rain
and I knew we will overcome all obstacles,
to make room for our beloved children,
for our new tomorrow’s day.
Let us unite our nation by calling for a minute of silent prayer/meditation on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and the time chosen by our President Obama so our nation can beckon God with one heart.
James Menasheh Soorani’s family immigrated from Israel to Manhattan in the 1960s where two boys Vernon and Gregory took him in and bought him cake. He practiced medicine in Culver City with his parents where the love of the mixed population opened his heart to write. His first poem that burst through was for Martin Luther King. In 2007 he moved to Israel to work with the Jewish and Arabic peoples of his origin. He dedicates this Song for Mother Earth to the parents and children of Newtown and all the children of the world.
Thanks.