You are a special gift
To the universal whole
There is no one like you
You're a one-of-a-kind-soul...

You have the right to be
Exactly what you are
Unique to all of life
Your own shining star!

You are the gift of life
Deserve respect and love
Whether red man, black
The breaching whale, the dove...

The universe mourns
When any life is wiped away
To just wipe out a life
Is not for man to say..

The tree, the soaring eagle
The shark, the hunted deer
The wolf, the Indian peoples
Too many slaughtered here!

Respect and understanding
Never hurt the earth
Or to think of life as precious
To give all life it's worth..

Wild rivers flow in my veins
The earth my flesh is kin..
Destroy them, destroy myself
Suicide is a sin....

My sister is the hawk
The brown man my brother
Love encircles all and
Flows from one heart to another....

(c) M. Linda Steffey 1997