EARTH DAY 2015

Photo by S. Auberle

 PRAYER FOR VILLAGE EARTH

 Mother Earth, we pray today

to join with our brothers and sisters

in the company of whom we share this web of life.

We will not take from you lightly, nor do harm.

We will respect those creatures with whom we live.

Wolf, Hawk, Turtle and Bear, we honor you

and all our four-legged brothers and sisters.

Bless us, please, you Flying People,

Crawling People, the Swimmers,

Plant and Tree People.

Father Sun, we beseech you

to shine down your light upon us.

Sister Rain and Brother Wind, walk softly here,

for we are small beneath your power.

Sister Moon, shine gently

 as you guide us into dreamtime,

and when you journey across the world,

send your stars to light our way home.

Mother Earth, accept our prayer,

bless us with your energy and healing.

Help us remember that we are connected

to all who share your sacred web of life—past,

present, and future—that in divinity

we may exist as one…

                                                            -  Sharon Auberle

Digital collage by S. Auberle       ~"Masquerade"
multi-media, hand colored pastel & watercolor

MASQUERADE 

She believed long ago

that every one except her knew

something she didn’t…

Important people knew,

successful people knew,

nuns and priests,

in their stern pulpits knew…

how to go through this world

purely, with wisdom the girl felt

she would never possess.

It seemed to her that she was broken

or missing something and, somehow,

needed to be fixed.

The masks were available

as she grew, and like other women

in that time and place,

she chose several…good girl,

good wife, good mother.

They never quite fit.

She couldn’t see well in them,

but it didn’t matter--this way

no one would know her true self.

With her vision askew,

the woman didn’t realize

that other people wore masks—

crooked ones, shabby ones, 

masks that had fallen,

been trampled on the ground.

But this is no new story

and I wish I could tell you a happy ending…

I can’t.  Except that

even the finest masks wear out.

Feathers and jewels drop, one by one.

The edges tatter and tear, till

one day, the masquerade ends.

The woman sees her face,

naked, scarred, criss-crossed

with living.  She touches herself,

tenderly, to be sure….and finds herself

whole and beautiful.  

She was never  broken.