I Have Sworn to Protect Her

                                                  

I have sworn to protect Her!           
Miracle blue-green jewel of all the worlds,
ancient blue mountains, vast golden deserts,
hummingbirds in the jewelweed,
black bear in the raspberries.
I speak for Her!
I howl for Her!        
I howl, “Beware!”
to you who remove Her sacred mountaintops
torturing her body to get at Her coal.
I howl, “Beware!”
to you who go deep within her mineral layers,
scraping away at her core
for your own gain.
But no one gains by this.  She feeds us all.
I have sworn to protect Her,           
this day that She needs us,
when even Her vast blue-green oceans, teeming with life,
are tainted with blood, the black oil of power and greed.
This is the day, this is the hour.
She, long-silent, awaits our voice.
The signs of Her anger are everywhere:
desert, flood, tornado, wildfire, earthquake, typhoon, tsunami.
I howl for Her!             
I love my Earth as my own body!
I have sworn to protect Her!

Annelinde Metzner
July 31, 2011


    My poem, "I Have Sworn to Protect Her," has been chosen to appear in the 2015 edition of the We'Moon Datebook and also in December of the Wall Calendar.   In the spirit of this poem, Sahara Peace Choir, which I direct, will sing this Sunday July 20th to envision and help manifest a public garden and green space where now all is paved over.
      This will be at 6 PM across from the Basilica on Haywood Street in Asheville, North Carolina.
     "Goddess Bless the Grass!" is our theme, taken from the powerful song by Malvina Reynolds.

Sahara Peace Choir rehearsing for "Goddess Bless the Grass!"