Note: I took a walk recently with my son and partner in Tinicum, also known as the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.
This poem is a reflection on that walk and the conversation we had. We noticed that the destruction of the environment far away is also here in our midst, all around us.
We've been talking quite a bit about Shared Security at AFSC and this conversation brought home for me how connected our fate is with the fate of those far away.
There is no cocoon protecting us from environmental wreckage or other kinds of violence - our futures are intertwined and interdependent. - Lucy
Walking on paths blanketed in leaves that crackle
Two white cranes swooping against soft blue air
Orange, red, brown leaves dipping towards the water
Turtles lumbering through the mud just beneath the surface
And two, partner and son, home to me, walk beside me
Son speaks outrage - a Palm oil plantation in Cameroon threatens orangutans
He has written an essay about it, "Humans suck"
We walk in a holy place that may be only a memory
The airport neighbor intends to encroach
Enveloped are we by the sacred as the bulldozer of destruction creeps nearer
I look out across the marsh and see the sky fingering the earth
Grasses pushing toward the light
Life flourishes at the edges
Hold my hand, together we might refuse the death temptation