Earth beneath

by John Butterfield

Beneath our feet: the earth,

a celestial ball floating in the cosmos;

old rocks ancient as time;

huge, eternal, home to all we know.

Take off your shoes and socks and feel

the warm glow of the planets heart:

beating, rotating, cooling, warming, growing

microbes to macrobiotics; plants and fauna;

evolving, rooting deep down, transpiring

communicating in systems: complex and free

relating in relationships: interdependent

free from the control of human force but

under the hammer of human hands.

All across the globe people

in various states and tribes

look at the earth and find

pointers to different gods,

forming different communities,

showing the way that life should be

when across the deeps the spirits yearning

leads us ever slowly home;

finding shelter from the storms.

In ancient times people learned

to live in harmony with their home

planting and using what was for their need

and making ready their contentment

then as they saw that others had

developed in different ways

they didn't know how to cope

they made war on the not understood

and put up walls to divide

and keep safe their little plot;

their small share of the sacred whole.

Today we know those powers

we see the walls everywhere

but we have lost sight of the sacred state

lost sight of our connectedness

lost sight of the earth – our place

the shared ground beneath our feet

united by our common home.