By Christi Ortiz
We thirst for oil for prosperity and advancement in our mansion
of comfort and expansion
Like drunken pirates lost at sea
blind to the beauty and the sovereignty of the sea
They lust only for treasure in the rocks
that can be held in a box
Gold is all that glitters in their mind
Greed is all that drives those of this kind
But there is another Way…..the Sea calls to us like a long lost lover
she knows our name, she is our Mother
Yes we can pump the Earth of all her natural resources
with our insatiable hunger for the gold that through her body courses
not caring if we suck the life blood from her veins
or destroy every creatures on her surface that remains
You forget to seek her wisdom of old
we forget she’s already given us a treasure to behold
Free and sustainable yet sufficient to meet our need
and yet not starve the Earth upon which we feed
The black gold of composting worms teaches us a lesson excremental
to trust the circle of life, the way of nature incremental
If we respect her she will allow us her wisdom to taste
that it is in recycling and reusing that we find fertility within our waste
We are beginning to learn the way of biomimicry
Trusting, listening, watching, learning from her is the key
Whenever I am tempted to fear and despair the dismal state of our hive
nature’s call reminds me there is no destruction that life can’t survive
Like the flourishing forest after a fire
or the budding greens after a flood
or the gentle sprinkles after a drought
Life finds a way, hope is possible through our doubt
The earthen humble work of worms not only gives us black gold
they teach us a lesson as they turn our garbage into gold
nourishing our soil with every inch of their work in secret and in darkness
allowing food of all kind to flourish in what was once our consumption’s starkness
for our survival we appreciate them not
teaching us about a power that can’t be bought
the power of regeneration
feeding the next generation
rising from deathly frost
power to regrow that which was lost
And I’ll pray we too can find this sunken treasure
learning a lesson that has no other measure
Hidden in the soil and the sea
the knowledge of how to live in harmony
as a sustainable planet
replanting our debt
to respect this pale blue dot in an expanse so great
before it’s too late
