A Harvest for the World

Lúghnasadh Reflections - Celtic Wheel Series #7

Corrected version. Apologies for double-post. Poems didn’t appear properly in previous one.

The Celtic Wheel turned to Lúghnasadh on 7th August this year, marking the beginning of Autumn and the harvest season. Now that we are half-way through, on the cusp of Autumnal Equinox, I find myself pondering the question below, posed by the Isley brothers in their eponymous album ‘Harvest For The World’, in 1976.

All babies together, every one a seed
Half of us are satisfied, half of us in need
Love's bountiful in us, tarnished by our greed
Oh, when will there be a harvest for the world?

Despite (and in some cases, because of) huge strides in technology since then, the situation about which they wrote nearly five decades ago, has, if anything, worsened.

More and more, I find myself coming back to the concept of community, in every sense, as the most likely source of solutions to the many challenges we face as a species and as co-habiters of the abundant non-human life, with which we are deeply connected on this planet, whether we consciously experience it in our daily lives or not.

While the word ‘community’ is often used to describe a social unit of humans, it is also associated with ‘ecology’, as in community ecology. Somehow though, we, as humans, predominantly see ourselves as being outside of and separate from the ecology of this planet, which consists, to all intents and purposes, of the ‘other’, non-human life. To my mind, this separation is at the root of our malaise.

Being from a small family, especially in Irish terms, I have a long-standing fascination with the idea of community. As a child, I often envied friends with large families, who had large family gatherings that seemed, to my child-eyes, fun-filled occasions. No doubt, much of this envy was simply the rose-tinted lens through which I viewed them but it planted seeds nonetheless, that grew strong shoots over the years, informing my educational and work choices, as well as my creative endeavours.

Of late, this has been crystallising for me, so that more and more, I view our collective world, its challenges (and potential solutions) through the lens of community ecology - from the micro-ecology of cells, microbes and other life forms in each and every organism (humans included) to the macro-ecology of the living organism we call Earth.

Reading Merlin Sheldrake’s excellent ‘Entangled Life’, about the myco-biology and ecology that is so much a part of us, whether we realise it or not, helped enormously in this process, with many ‘Aha!’ moments. Another eye-opener was a recent and wonderful Arts & Ecology collaboration on a local permaculture farm, where I fully embodied the understanding of ‘no separation’, despite apparent boundaries.

Permaculture may be described variously by others but for me, it is about creating sustainable community, involving all life forms. As Merlin Sheldrake points out, the success of the mycelium depends upon a balance of both co-operation and competition. I would suggest that this balance is necessary for all communities to thrive. Healthy trade is based on give and take. If the taking is on one side only, eventually the community will collapse.

Perhaps, if we could more fully recognise ourselves as part of an ecological community of beings - human, animal, plant, fungi, mineral and more - we might begin, like the mycelium, to find more creative solutions for the manifold challenges we are presented with, through a balance of give and take, instead of hoarding through greed and fear. Then, it may be possible to ensure a bountiful harvest for all - human and non-human.

Without this reciprocity, this recognition of our place in the web of life, as part of a living ecology, co-creating with, rather than standing over as masters, there is a real and imminent danger that the harvest will cease.

I have come to understand however, that recognising ourselves as part of this wider community, requires each of us knowing who we are at our core because it is through forgetting our deep and intimate connection, that we lose our way.

To re-member ourselves whole is to re-member ourselves home. While we are in physical form, this planet is our home. It is time to do some house-keeping……

The following selection of poems weave around this theme, with audio-recordings, if you prefer to listen.

Bounty

Early Autumn
sun's love pouring still through hazy skies 
replete with birds seeking prize of harvest
fresh-cut hay threshed and turned
reveals an avian feast.

Dogs refuse to pass full blackberry bushes
ripe, dark fruit hanging from branches
thorns like daggers
until some of this sweetness passes to them
an autumnal canine treat.

Trees themselves become as chimes
for wind blown soft through rippling tides of leaves.
No need then for man-made bells
when music of nature fills my senses
with a truly abundant plate.

© Áine Fortune 2022

An Ordinary Life

Something beautiful passing through
the veins and arteries of an ordinary life
moments of pleasure strung together
enrich the fabric, which dresses my soul
and feeds my hope, my wish for beauty
and love and love and always love.

Pay attention to the beat
the fleeting glimpse of life, real life
so wise in its steady rhythm and flow
that knows only moment to moment
breath of earth, its depth an endless treasure.

Explore what is, invite it in with curiosity
the mindset of a child with eyes of wonder
finding gold they were told came in a treasure chest
but blessed they are to see it in trees and fish
the swish of a tail and stars.

May I always remember 
the feeling that stays as warmth in my heart
the art of being in tune with leaves and squirrels
burrowing or twirling high in a canopy
that sets them free to touch the sky

to be with it all
however small the triumph seems of feeling my soul 
as tapestry unfolds before me in perfect symphony
an exquisite epiphany of God.

© Áine Fortune 2021

Sensing Life

I feel the gift of this body
given to walk through life
a moment's breath of letting it in
and then consenting to die

like a flower that knows its purpose
to show and tell the bees
how nectar flows through swelling buds
where they ripen amongst green leaves.

I understand now why I came here
as I add to the weave and weft
a simple, profound observation
of a dangling dew-glistened web.

Left for my eyes by the spider
herself a shining star
the intimate pattern she carries
an indelible heavenly mark

as the moonlight shining above me
when I walk the land after dark
her rays like pearls of wisdom
show bats that flit and dart.

If I tune my ears to listen
then I hear the language of love
for what else could be creation
but expression of notes from above?

In witnessing life as it happens
attention to each small detail
of this riotous, chaotic canvas
the universe puts on display

then I offer my gift to creation
a sensitive, loving heart
to sense it all through this body
and know, I have played my part.

© Áine Fortune 2022

Beauty

When the world offers itself to you
take it with compassion

hold it close but weep not for its sorrows
rather, celebrate all the beauty there is

let it fill your senses
and light up the parts of you that need healing

let it find its way through the broken places
the splinters of existence without love

let wholeness mend and stitch those pieces together
until you can no longer discern yourself 
from the beauty that you are.

© Áine Fortune 2022