This Is Our Home, But Not Just Ours

Laura Bogle

We gather here to remember this is our home, but not just ours.
This land we live on, this water we drink, this air we breathe;
These old mountains that hold us steady to our ground;
These forests that give us their healing green, these flowers that give us their beauty and fragrance, these fields that give us our daily bread, these stars that show us our place.
The wilderness and the tame backyards, all of it our home.
We remember the ancestors who have lived on this land, and who have shaped it:

[Note: please amend to reflect the indigenous people of your own geographical setting:] The Cherokee, the settlers, the mountaineers, the farmers, the hunters, the immigrants, the artists, the families, the explorers, the business-people, the engineers, the builders, the scientists, the teachers, the workers, the leaders.

We inherit their choices.
We honor the animals and creatures that have made their home in this land, the ones here now, and the ones that used to be here.
We envision the future generations who will live on this land, and let their voices fill our hearts.
We gather here to remember this is our home, but not just ours.