Elegy for the Eaten

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To the Ones who
Awakened the Universe with a word
And set the Cosmos afire.

God-Mom and God-Dad—

Stretching forth our hands,
We pluck from the Tree of Life.
For our mortal lives to be sustained,
creaturely blood must be spilled.
Through animal, plant, and fungus—we live.

This is the Way.
Death is the engine of Life.

Tell them, God-Mom and God-Dad,
That we are grateful for their lives.
That we are sorry we did not do better by them.
Tell them they are more than beef
More than pork.

Tell them they are precious
Beyond their grocered price.
Dollars and cents mean nothing,
For without them
We are nothing.

We pray that we can be worthy
Of Creation’s ever-giving Sacrifice.

With fire, earth, water, air,
And a heaping cup of spirited love,
We have cooked a meal
In the Cosmos of our Kitchen.
A similitude of Creation.

Bless us with Presence that we may eat
And taste Grace made flesh.
Made vegetable.
Made fruit.

And without end,
We give thanks for the gift of life
The communion of food
And the company to share it with.

We pray in the name that embodies
Creation’s Grace and Power;
Life into Death into Renewed Life;
Jesus Christ
Amen.

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