by Bernadette Miller

I give thanks for the gratuitous grace
of a planet that provides every living entity
that enters and becomes you and me.
I offer gratitude to the living body of the mother
who birthed every aspiring stone and tree,
every creature in land and sea,
every promise of beauty and continuity.
I acknowledge gentle arms that unfolded me
when I could not see past agony.
I ask for clarity to share and be
the love and intimacy
that propel evolutionary creativity.
I request humility and compassion
to claim and ease a still-unfolding history
that holds slavery, genocide, ecocide
and poverty for many.
I pray to say what is mine to say.
I resolve to restore relationships
that I and we have sacrificed
to fuel socially prescribed productivity.
I seek to see myself and all humanity
with the tender expectancy
that unlocks life’s generative capacity.

Bernadette Miller lives at Canticle Farm in Oakland CA where she plants seeds, prepares meals, writes poems, plays the harp, paints pictures, and loves everyone she meets.  She has worked extensively with children, especially in environmental education and gardening.