An Open Letter

An Open Letter

This letter was originally published in the 2022 Fall Issue of Woolgathering:

Dearest Spring Bird,

Let it be known that on this day and this day forward, I pledge allegiance to your land and to all who grow, inhabit, dwell, live, thrive and worship there, but especially, most definitely, I pledge devotion to your Oaks.

I pray and promise to protect the wide arms of the oak trees that stretch over us 

– squirrel superhighways 

– sacred domes of green – then brown – then bare – 

– homes to caterpillars by the hundreds – food for birds and future pollinators

I’m gracious for the squirrels and the blue jays who tend your seeds

– planting them for you, for me, each Fall.

I pledge to protect your seedlings each Spring

– to learn how to encourage your growth 

– to tend to your disease, your nutrition, and any future parasitic thieves.

I will grieve you – only when absolutely necessary, and then, there is the future you that will rebound because of your fall.

I comb your grounds with my fingers – yanking up the invasives and trimming back the aggressors that seek to rob your food and water and poison the ground with toxins. 

I create room for you to breathe – to spread and allow for the desired plants and animals to grow – the ones that belong here.

– to restore the health and support a thriving community of root, wing, scale, seed, leaf and slug.

I prostrate myself as I worship, study, caress, contemplate, learn, wonder. . .

What is possible, 

How to improve, serve, restore, and fruit

I swear to you –

I will do what I can with these hands

With these arms and legs,

eyes, mouth, and ears

To receive you and all your kind

  • Including myself

I receive you receiving me

And I worship

I pray

I weed

I sow

I sew

I draw 

I write 

I am here with you

Together we welcome and invite visitors to stay and pray with us,

Until they have to leave OR you have to leave OR I have to leave

I’m here with you 

I’m here with you

I’m here with you

You are here with me

I love you

Now 

And forever,

Anna