Remember the Goddess of the Earth

We received the following submission from artist and illustrator Barbara Kring. It’s offered here as a meditation on the damage we have done to our earth. It is possible to restore and renew our world, but it takes awareness, effort, and a willingness to face down our own post-Conquest filter.

 

 

To the Goddess of the Earth

By Barbara Kring

The goddess looked upon her children and smiled,
Walking hand and hand into paradise.
The breeze was her whisper,
Her laugher echoed in the rushing waters.
With the Earth as her form she sat with us,
Teaching us her wisdom, her hopes, and dreams.
The fire sat within her heart to protect us from harm,
For a time letting no harm to come to her children.

Now the goddess cannot smile as she once did,
Standing upon the ashes of the land she once walked.
The breeze is now her cries of sadness,
The streams once clean now acrid and filled with tears.
The Earth has been ravaged and honoring it has been forgotten,
The goddesse's teachings are now lost, her hopes dashes, dreams forgotten,
The fire still looms within her heart but her warmth has been ignored.
In this time she is ravaged, abused, and forgotten.

We as children of the goddess must again look to her again,
Walk again in her footsteps and recreate paradise.
To fill the air with her praise and love,
Open our ears to the words of the goddess again.
Teaching the wisdom passed down from her, to reclaim our past and future.
That fire must be turned to protect the mother who has protected us from harm,
To once again hear her whisper in the breeze, and to walk hand and hand with her.