Gratitude to Ocean

We offer gratitude to Ocean, the one great Ocean of the world, whom we call by so many names. Grandmother Ocean, thank you for Life! For the lives of our most ancient ancestors whom you cradled and fed, For the lives of all who came after, who stayed in your waters or ventured on land. For the lives of all the plants whom you water through the clouds, and for the  tiny phytoplankton who give us breath. We thank you Ocean, for the lives of all our relatives.

For the finned creatures—we thought the multitude of them was inexhaustible, now we know otherwise. May we find ways to sustain their families even as we feed ourselves.

For the mollusks and crustaceans, for the shellfish who feed us and the oysters who also tirelessly clean the waters.

For the seabirds, white and black against the sky who dive and dip, fish or scavenge, knitting the wind and waves together.

For our cousins, the sea mammals. Seals with your soft round eyes, and you the great Whales! We haven’t forgotten you.

For the coral reefs who tend the myriad brilliant life forms. May we help to keep your waters suitable for your precious lives.

For the seaweeds, full of medicine, and the eelgrass, sustainer of shellfish and eel. We see and appreciate the work you do.

For the sunken stars of bio luminescence, reminding us that Life is filled with Light.

We give thanks for the great currents, bringing warm and cold, mixing the brew of weather so we can live. For the tides, rising and falling to the call of sun and moon, and the waves, lifted and stirred by the winds. We remember with gratitude how the sea currents carried us, people, animals and plants from shore to shore so that we might explore and inhabit new homelands.

We give thanks for the exhilaration of diving into surf, the pure joy of being rocked by waves. For the song of sea and shore that may fill us with emotion, awakening remembrance in our souls. Great Ocean you can wash away our grief, and renew our hope.

Grandmother Ocean who birthed us and sustains us, who cleanses and purifies us, who renews us and our world, we love you. Please forgive us for all we have done to harm you and your creatures. Be with us, sing in our blood, as we learn to do better.