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