The minerals are our kin;
We each occupy space and we are sensitive to the law of attraction.
The plants are our kin,
Like them we are born, we are nourished, we grow and we die.
The animals are our kin;
Sometimes we are surprised at the awakening of the animals within us.
The Angels are our kin;
Our body is the bearer of a spirit and is kin to the heavenly spirits.
We share in the very nature of God,
In his intelligence; and in his creative power.
We have been raised to the glory and the responsibility of co-creators.
We have characteristics that are specifically human,
Like our unmistakable way of smiling.
EARTH, SISTER EARTH
Teach us,
To continue the creation,
To help the seeds, to multiply,
Giving food to the people and to the beasts.
Teach us,
To further the joy, you never tire of offering,
When weary travelers find you,
A sign-post to their home.
Teach us,
To make the horizon,
Become a beautiful image,
Of Creation’s grandeur.
Teach us,
To accept the mediation of those
Who wish to unite us to our fellows,
As you accept the gift,
Of the water that binds land to land
No matter how great the distance.
What do you suffer in the dust of deserts?
How do you look upon those of us,
Who though capable of transforming
The waste to lushness,
Prefer to the creators of barrenness?
And how do you rejoice in the rain
That brings forth your fruits?
And what pain do you feel at the storms?
Those drown you with floods, destroying plantations,
Crushing houses and the lives of animals, plants and people?
How great is the lesson you give us, O Earth,
More than sister; our mother Earth
All our lives, we walk carelessly across you,
And when life leaves us, with no shadow of resentment
You open up to us, your maternal bosom
To keep our flesh, our ashes for the joy of the resurrection
WATER, MY SISTER WATER
When you were created did you yet know,
How many would be the things you must do,
From the most noble and beautiful,
To the most base and desolate?
Yes, you are beautiful in the stillness of lakes,
In the flowing of rivers as humble brooks
Or as the rushing of rapids,
In glittering cascades, in the oceans which leave in us,
The lingering image of the infinite.
Yet for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear,
You are still more beautiful as you labor with joy,
On you round lowly tasks, the washing of cloths,
The cleaning of floors, the quenching of imperious thirst.
And impressive are you, in your ceaseless travel,
Lifted from the earth to the clouds,
And coming down again from heaven,
To bring life, to the plants, animals and the human race.
How did you receive?
The dreadful commission to bring the flood,
The storms at sea, the wild lashing of the tempest?
Do you give the chance of heaven as the reward?
Of those who offer you, to quench the thirst,
Of their brother or sister?
Do you know the sins of the human race?
Are to blame for many pains, you are forced to cure?
Thank you, Sister Water,
Forgive us, who make you perform cruel tasks.
Thank you above all, because you help us,
BROTHER AIR
Have you noticed, how we humans,
For all our civilization, transform you,
The guarantor of life, into a splendor of positions?
Have you noticed, how we humans,
Gifted with intelligence and reason.
Are wounding nature and preparing disasters,
For ourselves with our own hands.
How do you feel when a thousands sounds, words and music,
Threats and songs of love pass through you each instant?
How marvelous it would be if everything you carried,
Were at the service of peace and goodness.
Do you feel the difference?
Between the flight of a bird, and the throb of an aircraft?
Do you see the spaceships shooting by?
Do you go with them? In those far reaches,
Is there still need of you?
No doubt you have knowledge, you cannot reveal,
No doubt you know well, the things beyond earth,
And always and everywhere, you feel in a wonderful way,
The presence of your Creator and father.
Do you know that you give us;
Of all images one most close to God?
We live inside God everywhere,
At all times just as we live inside you.
And just as we think rarely of you,
By day and still less at night.
So do we rarely think of our God?
If we are without you, even a few seconds life is unbearable!
Only then do we think of you.
Our God fades from our thought even more,
Yet he never complains of the way we leave him alone.
And he never leaves us.
O Air, please teach us
To think of you and still more much more
TREES, SISTER TREES
Ah Trees, do you live in peace, in harmony, despite the difference,
Between you which to the human eye, seem so immense?
How do you feel, you towering palms, you massive oaks,
You giant baobabs, as you stare down upon a tiny bush?
Are the fruit bearers, apple, mango and coconut,
Tempted to mock those who have simply leaves and thorns?
Do you welcome the birds’ nests?
And children who swing from your braches?
What is it like when the leaves fall?
And your branches are draped in snow?
Does spring give a hint?
Of the thought of resurrection?
And what is it like when
Drought wounds the land
And you trees seem to rise upon your arms
In silent prayer to our Lord and Father?
What do you feel at the plucking of your fruits?
Is the stoning the worst part?
And what is your pain
When your branches are pruned,
Or when a tree entire
Goes to the timber yard to be cut
Into houses or bridges or chains or beds?
Do you understand the purpose of a bridge?
And you realize your importance in the building of a home?
Chains and beds, call to mind rest
And make us think of a family;
But what does it mean to you?
When lightening strikes a tree, is it true that
The tree prefers itself to be struck
Than to see a person or house destroyed?
Remember sister Tree,
That the son of God
In order to reconcile us
Without pour Father and his
Bore a heavy cross
Three times he fell
Under that burden
And wanted to die
Nailed to the cross
In order to save us.
By HELDER CAMARA, IN SISTER EARTH –CREATION ECOLOGY AND THE SPIRIT, NEW YORK: NEW CITY PRESS, 1995.
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