Patriotic?

Am I patriotic—

Inspired by love

for one’s country?

Taking off my shoes,

kissing the ground with my feet

in blessings, in gratitude

in surrendered loyalty

to protect the land

Yet for what soil is my devotion?

The fresh cut grass

clinging to my bare-feet

on my family’s backyard?

The rocky shores of shell shards & sand

sticking to my bare-feet

on our community beach?

The vertical evergreens immeasurable

reach underneath my bare-feet,

mycelium entangled with our roots

on this islands grand forest?

The swirling salt water

dripping off my barefeet

from the Salish sea—

washing shores of two countries,

unceeded territories of numerous

indigenous nations?

Liquid home to interconnected pods,

schools, colonies of aquatic life?

or our one shared Mother Earth

foaming between my toes,

inspiring my heart?

Oh how I am devoted to thee,

my barefeet sensing my belonging

wherever I step—

Inspired by love for the earth

and all her creatures,

all beings of aliveness

Oh how I am devoted to thee

Yet patriotic?—of the fatherland?

leaves out the wholeness of creation

of Mother Earth, nurtured by her

Perhaps I am Natriotic—

of Nature, for Nature, by Nature

Inspired by love for Nature~

our ONE great blue green homeland

Oh YES how I am devoted to thee!