This is an untitled (newly titled!) poem by Joanna Macy, a deep ecologist. I found this poem many years ago on a website long lost to memory, but I’ve linked to Joanna’s website in her name below. I stumbled across the poem again today as I was looking through some of my old files. It still speaks to me, and in so much more than a quiet whisper. I’m sharing it with you now, and I hope you love it, too.
One of my photos from a trip to Germany in 2013.
From the Council of All Beings
We hear you, fellow creatures.
We know we are wrecking the world and we are afraid.
What we have unleashed has such momentum now,
we don’t know how to turn it around.
Don’t leave us alone, we need your help.
You need us too for your own survival.
Are there powers there you can share with us?
“I, lichen, work slowly, very slowly.
Time is my friend.
This is what I give you: patience for the long haul and perseverance.”
“It is a dark time. As deep-diving trout I offer you my fearlessness of the dark.”
“I, lion, give you my roar, the voice to speak out and be heard.”
“I am caterpillar. The leaves I eat taste bitter now. But dimly I sense a great change coming. What I offer you, humans, is my willingness to dissolve and transform. I do that without knowing what the end-result will be, so I share with you my courage too.”
