Fanua is the placenta and also the land

Faautu Talapusi one of our colleagues from the Pacific put together a wonderful liturgy for this morning as we pray for Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand it also offered prayers for our suffering environment and planet.
We heard part of the story of creation from the beginning of Genesis read in Samoan where the word "fanua" is used for the word land. Interestingly in most Polynesian languages including Maori (whanua), fanua signifies not only land but also placenta.
Inspired by this wonderful word Faautu wrote a poem for our meditation this morning. Below is just an extract but you can read the full version here.

"I am the fanua
The placenta buried in my ancestral land after childbirth
I am the pute
The umbilical cord buried and my link to my fanua

I am the fanua
The land which holds my history, my life, my death
I am the fanua
The land of my people, my ancestors, my descendents

I am the fanua
That which bonds me to the air, the earth, the sea
I am the fanua
That which binds me to the plants, the animals, the fish

I am the fanua
My mother's pain and joy in giving life
I am the fanua
Mother earth's pain and joy in giving life

I am the fanua
God's beautiful and unparalleled creation
I am the fanua
God's undying and steadfast love".