I need to be still,
let Earth’s beauty
embrace me.

For it is in this embrace
I come home
to the deepest part
of my true self.

Earth consoles me
heals me.
Earth restores
my waning energy.

Earth calms
my confusions,
straightens my imbalance.

O Earth,
embrace me.

—Joyce Rupp

— Opening poem chosen and read by Amy W.

O earth, embrace me

all of me–

my brokenness

my aliveness,

my once-was-ness

my beginning,

my greyness

my shimmer,

my sound

my silence,

my careful step

my abandon,

my everlasting

surrender.

— photos and poem by Amy Webb, December 28, 2024

Rough seas roar,

No wave like any other.

Pools of water

dance and flow and sing.

The nearby pond,

Glass shimmering

Peacefulness in the gray.

Ocean sounds bellow

In the quiet.

All belonging.

— Photos and poem by Nancy L.