Eco-Theologian Thomas Berry | Whole Life Times — Los Angeles Holistic Health Magazine

Sometimes described as the grandfather of the ecological movement, the famed eco-theologian and cultural historian Thomas Stars_Smithsonian Berry wrote, “In reality there is a single integral community of the Earth . . . In this community every being has its own role to fulfill, its own dignity, its inner spontaneity. Every being has its own voice.” This poem honors Berry’s life and the Earth that he loved.

Carolina Prophet
Poem for Thomas Berry

By Drew Dellinger

we were dreamed
in the cores
of the stars.
like the stars,
we were meant to unfold

we were dreamed in the depths
of the undulating ocean.
like the waves,
we were meant to unfold

like bursting supernovas, birthing elements,

which crucibles give rise to creativity?

the world makes us
its instrument.

Father Thomas,
speaking for stars, in a voice
old as wind: ‘origin moments
are supremely important’

what are the origins
of a prophet?

found in syllables of Sanskrit,
or Chinese characters?
in a decade of midnight prayer?

in childhood epiphanies
rising like heat?
blue Carolina sky;
dark pines;
crickets;
birds;
sunlight
on the lilies,
in the meadow,
across the creek.

born in Carolina
on the eve of the Great War,
Saturn conjoining Pluto in the sky.
raised in a world of wires and wheels,
watching dirt roads turn to pavement.

brooding intensity,
measuring loss
when others could see only progress.

white hair communing with angels of Earth

Father Thomas, reminding us
we are constantly bathed in shimmering memories
of originating radiance

we are constantly bathed in shimmering memories
of originating radiance

the psychic stars:
the conscious soil:

this thin film of atmosphere;

and only gravity
holding the sea from the stars.

when a vision of the universe takes hold
in your mind, your soul becomes vast as the cosmos.

when the mind is silent,
everything is sacred.

like the spiral

like the lotus
like the waves
like the trees
like the stars,

we were meant to unfold.