26 October 2025

A prayer for more life

 

source

Let earth be eternal,
but not unchanging.  Let
life on earth heal itself,
befriending each other
into trustfulness.
 
Let humans survive in
right relationship with
other life, giving up
supremacy to gain
harmony and neighbors.
 
Let each of us be as
mother earth, embracing
difference, giving
and taking just enough in
a gift economy.
 
Let us love earth intact,
finding alternative
ways to meet our needs, not
using up its last land
and squeezing it to death.
 
Let us learn from earth’s own
creatures how to care for
and accept all of us—
so we heal society
and its transgressors.
 
Let us believe in an
ability to learn,
an eternal value
that will help us survive
into integrity.


For my prompt "Eternal / Unchanging" at What's Going On? 

 

My blog poems are rough drafts.
Please respect my copyright.
© 2025 Susan L. Chast

8 comments:

  1. This poem is a balm of hopefulness, which seeps into my heart. Especially the stanza about not using up earth's last land - given the announcement that He Who Shall Not Be Named just signed over the Arctic to Big Oil. Sigh. I do believe on the other side of all this horror, humans will relearn how to live sustainably on the earth - because there will be no living on it if we dont. A really beautiful poem.

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  2. Amen to all of that..."survive into integrity" - if we could just learn that one thing- we might yet save ourselves and the earth and all that is to follow.... thanks for the prayer, Susan.

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  3. Susan, your poem is a prayer! I truly love it. I looked at each stanza and tried to find a favorite, but I think each stanza is inspired. But if...just if...I had to choose a favorite stanza, it would be this one:
    "Let us love earth intact,
    finding alternative
    ways to meet our needs, not
    using up its last land
    and squeezing it to death."
    You were truly inspired with this one.

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  4. A beautiful poem Susan. Loving and wise words these are. How I wish everyone at least begins to think in this way. But those lacking wisdom will definitely not give up 'supremacy'. Sigh.

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  5. Susan, I am glad for your prayer. Our needs are great. You alone can't change the world to better again but your prayer sure can.

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  6. Yes let us do that What a gorgeous poem of love, trust and the example of mother earth

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  7. A beautiful poem, Susan, a ray of light and a balm of hope in these dark times we live in...

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  8. Love the ideals you express here, Susan! Yours is a recipe for heaven on Earth.

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