Prayer for a Home Place

Oh, rivers who fed my roots
shad highways
loon waterbeds
conveyors of coal and factory sludge
bearers of kayaks and pesticides
connectors and dividers
Named by the Delaware, Onondaga, Lenni Lenape
Renamed by the Germans, Dutch, English
Ga’-wa-no-wa’na-neh Gehunda, Susquehanna, great island river
Lechauwekink, Lehigh, where there are forks
Manayunk, Schuylkill, where we go to drink
Lackawanna, stream that forks

Oh, soil that held firm my roots
Pocono, a river between two mountains
Catasaqua, thirsty earth
Hockendauqua, searching for land
Coplay, even running stream
Maxatawny, bear path stream
Kittatinny, endless mountains

Forgive the builders of rails and interstates.
Forgive the billboards, industrial parks and subdivisions.
Forgive the tired ghosts of miners, steel workers and farmers.
Forgive those of us who left without cleaning up our messes.

Bless the first nations, the ones who labor
to restore each child, the eagles and trout,
to recover each stream and strip of green.

May old waters flow freely, crops grow cleanly.
May you be sanctuary to all who hunger and thirst
for home without dams, without walls.