Lore and Legend

Native Lore reminds us that the earth belongs to no one,

no one owns the earth and the sky and the sea; it is

its own entity, its own power, to create and destroy,

to sustain itself, freely shared with those who inhabit it,

who sign its contract, binding ourselves to nature’s way.

 

And Legend says we must live here in a balance,

mankind and its kings and the land itself, a delicate balance

sustained in peace and cooperation, a shared space

belonging to no one, belonging to all, a mutual contract

binding us to each other, to earth and sky and sea, to life itself.

 

Tip the scale, and let loose the fury held at bay in balance;

Tip the scale, and we are destroyed by fire and flood, consumed

and left to die, destroying the land, destroying ourselves,

the fine print of a contract duly signed and sealed

and safely held in nature’s trust, Earth’s promise for eternity.