The Rev. Mark Bellentini was one of the first out gay ministers in Unitarian Universalism and he also chaired the hymnal committee for the gray hardback Singing the Living Tradition which was published in 1993. The UUA Bookstore publishes a meditation book series, now retitled the inSpirit series, and this poem is from Rev. Mark’s Sonata for Voice and Silence. It is slightly adapted in that we capitalize ‘E’ whenever we refer to our planet. It’s a proper noun after all and we sometimes wonder how things might be different right now if we respected that. This coming Sunday the service will explore even more wonderful poetry.

Inspired by Leah Penniman and the wonderful turn out for the service April 23, we share Rev. Belletini’s poem:

The Earth.

One planet.

Round, global,

so that when you trace its shape

with your finger,

you end up where you started. It’s one. It’s whole.

All the dotted lines we draw on our maps

of this globe are just that, dotted lines.

They smear easily.

Oceans can be crossed.

Even the desert can be crossed.

The grain that grows on one side of the border

tastes just as good as the grain on the other side.

Moreover, bread made from rice is just as nourishing

to body and spirit as bread made from corn,

or spelt or teff or wheat or barley.

There is no superior land, no chosen site,

no divine destiny falling on any one nation

who draws those dotted lines just so.

There is only one Earth we all share,

we, the living, with all else that lives

and does not live.

Everything,

everything, for good or ill,

is part of the shared whole:

sky, earth, song, words and now, this silence.

With peace,

Rev. Lynn and Rev. Wendy