Dear Earth, we are born wounded.

Maybe our grandfather was shamed when his pudgy two year old arms reached out, and he learnt to spit hate at his own need. Maybe our great grandmother was shut in the cupboard for hours at a time, and monsters grew in the dark. Further back: oppression breeding oppression, the horror of war, silent sexual abuse, so many beautiful dead children.

We carry these wounds, beautiful Earth, passed down from our ancestors. Our parents lightened our load in some respects, forgiving and receiving, and also gifted us new astonishing pain of their own invention. They did the best they can with what they received – would we have done any better?

Our legacy is to tend to these multi-generational wounds, kind Earth. If we can, we hand on smaller burdens to our children. If we can, we treat each wound as a pitiful unloved creature, starved of light, and we slowly approach it with balm and with listening ears. We find wise and steady companions to walk with us through the internal neighbourhoods where stabbings happen. We remember how long it took for some of these wounds to be made, and we are patient.

I think you understand this about us, dear Earth. I think you see how utterly smashable we are, figurines of paper-thin china – and how we try to mobilise hate to hold us together. I think you see how frail our bodies are, like the intricate gills underneath mushrooms, and how afraid we are of impermanence. I think you see how we often stagger under the weight of our burdens, and how we grab onto whatever we can as we fall.

We are amazing, dear Earth. Carrying this heavy heritage of savagery and bitterness, we are always more than this. We find a thousand ways to arrange our burdens so we can pause to help a mother and baby onto the train. We take holiday so we can plant moss. We write and tell our sister that we love her, even though she hasn’t spoken to us for year. People are starving themselves for you, dear Earth. They are going to prison. They are gifting you their lives.

We are born hobbled, carrying knots of darkness. And, light streams around these knots, working away at them, loving them untied. We are doing our best for you, beloved Earth, with what we were given. We are doing okay.

Much love, Satya <3