PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

The more walks I’ve taken in nature…with each experience I’ve compiled

the more I think that nature is really just a child.

Before you think I’m crazy…let me offer a few reasons why…

She loves to play with crayons…have you seen the way she colors the sky?

Not just the sky…she colors everything and she never stays within the lines…

When she’s hungry you can hear her stomach grumble…

In the wind you can hear her whines.

She laughs at all the little things…she gets tickled by the breeze…

Her attention changes quickly…from the flowers to the trees…

to the oceans….to the rivers…to the mountains…to the streams…

and just like a child I’ve often wondered what inspires natures’s dreams?

She changes moods quite easily…she’s not one to conform….

One moment she is calm and quiet…the next…a sudden thunderstorm

She is a constant source of sunshine…boundless energy…and light…

and just like any child…she need her sleep at night.

Yes, in nature each day is a new adventure…

you never know what to expect…

which makes me wonder….

if nature 

like a child…

is something we should try harder to protect.

I had some questions I wanted to ask nature on my morning walk the other day…

I figured, being nature, she’d have quite a lot to say.

I asked her about the moon and stars that sprinkle the sky at night…

why were they created and what makes them shine so bright.

Then up in the sky…from the heavens…somewhere overhead…

her answer floated down to me…”Love” was all she said.

I asked her about the trees.   

How can something that starts from an acorn or seed so small…

grow into something so magnificent…so majestic…so beautiful…so tall.

Again from up in the heavens…somewhere overhead…

her answer floated down to me…”Love” was all she said.

I asked her about the ocean…from atop her surface to her deepest depths below…

where does she draw her strength and what makes her tides to ebb and flow.

For the third time from the heavens…somewhere overhead…

her answer floated down to me…”Love” was all she said.

I continued asking questions…and “Love” was the only answer I ever heard…

I was beginning to wonder if nature’s vocabulary was limited to that one word.

But what if that one word is the answer…

what if that is her explanation… her message…her creed…

what if she’s trying to tell us…love is all we need.

What if this is the only message she’ll float to us…down from the heavens above…

until we show her we all understand what she means when she says ‘Love’.

I imagine once we truly understand her message…nature will celebrate the day…

and only when we understand love…will she have more to say.

On an early walk along the beach I was enjoying the sand and the sea when I heard a voice from beneath my feet saying…”Please, don’t step on me!”

Immediately I stopped, looked down and wondered aloud…”Who is talking to me?”

then a voice from a twig in the sand answered, “Down here…it’s me…the tree.”

“Oh, I don’t think you are a tree.” I said. “Why you’re only six inches tall…

although you look a little like a tree…I believe you’re much too small.”

“You silly misguided human.” He replied. “It’s not me but your mind that’s small.

To a tiny grain of sand I am 100 feet tall.”

“And by human standards you’re not very tall yourself.” He continued. “Like me with height you haven’t been blessed.  Should I say you are not human because your not as tall as all the rest?”

“Good point.” I said as I smiled and got down on bended knee…then moved in a little closer so I could listen to the tree.

“Sometimes you humans are so egotistical.” The little tree said. “But I no longer find that surprising. It’s still dark…continue your walk…and come back when the sun is rising.”

So I did as the little tree suggested…wondering what more he could possibly teach…and returned to him as the sun was rising…as it began to light up the beach.

There was the little tree where I left him…smiling…illuminated by the sun

and I saw by the expression on his face…my lesson was not done.

The little tree said nothing…but now he didn’t seem so small…

for his shadow on the beach now stretched over 10 feet tall.

He beckoned me to kneel down again…and much to my surprise…

when he pointed up the beach…our shadows were the very same size.

“I’ve found in all my time on this beach.” The little tree said.  “In all the years that past…

It’s not my size that matters but the size of the shadow that I cast.”

It’s amazing where we find our teachers isn’t it…this morning on a walk down by the sea…my teacher was in the sand right under my feet…

in the form of a little tree.

IT SEEMS NATURE HAD OTHER PLANS

Our plan was to take a morning walk along the beach..as plans go it was a simple one…and once we arrived we headed south and east…toward the rising sun.

But a short time after arriving we soon became aware of what can only be described as an odiferous odor…wafting through the air.

We thought it might be red tide so…and since we hand’t walked too far…

dejectedly we turned around for the walk back to our car.

But then…for reasons we’ll never know…we felt almost immediately blessed…

because the odor quickly dissipated as we walked to the north and west.

We’ve walked this beach for many years…we didn’t think it held surprises anymore…but that morning we were treated to wonders we hadn’t seen or heard before.

The high tide had come and gone…we could see how far up the shore she reached…but what truly took us by surprise was, in her wake, what she left painted on the beach

Sea urchins, crabs, a sand dollar…a starfish…we wondered how can this be?  

Shells in a multitude of shapes and colors as far as our eyes could see.

And we were not the only ones enjoying the tides early morning surprise…

there were snails, clams, oysters and crabs trying new shells on for size.

And if we weren’t feeling blessed enough seeing the sights as the ocean ebbed and flowed…out in water dolphins…pods of dolphins…began putting on a show.

They were swimming, jumping partying all the time while being fed…

They even had time to smile at the pelicans skimming above their heads.

Here’s an interesting fact…that might seem a little odd…

but a group of pelicans and a group of dolphins…they’re both called a pod.

Yes, walking to the north and west we were treated to a host of new and different sights and sounds….

And we realized if we wanted to catch the sunrise…all we had to do was turn around.

Our plan was to walk in the direction we alway walked…along the beach in the early morning that day…

But often we have found…the treasures that abound…when we let nature lead the way.

Yesterday, on my morning walk, 

(as usual…this happens by chance) 

I wrote a poem about nature…

and her language of romance.

It was a short poem that I finished early…

(I don’t mean to gloat)

so I took the time left walking 

to read the words I wrote.

I wrote about the birds in the sky 

and the creatures that inhabit the seas

I wrote about the flowers and the mountains…

the rivers and the trees.

I originally only mentioned the wind 

and the messages all of the above contain…

but when I reached the part about the wind…

out of nowhere it began to rain.

from the raindrops falling on my head…

I was able to ascertain

nature was trying to tell me something,,,

this was a message from the rain.

So I immediately added rain into my poem…

and, with part of my walk still remaining,

like magic…as quickly as it began…

it immediately stopped raining.

So it seems…even though I cannot speak the language of nature…

(which I consider a great loss)

sometimes nature finds a way…

to get her point across.

Each language has it’s own beauty…

perhaps that’s why people travel the world seek them…

I imagine, just like me, 

they would someday like to speak them…

But there is one language we may never speak…

it is a culture without words

It’s one we step outside to seek…

in the trees…the rivers…the birds.

It’s a language none of us can recreate…

as it remains, to us, unknown

because nature does not translate…

a language all her own.

When rain drops fall…when they first appear 

Seedlings immediately know…

as the water reaches them they hear…

little ones…it’s time to grow.

And when the sun’s rays touch that soon-to-be flower…

as it awakens from its womb

the silent sunshine reveals its power….

when it whispers…time to bloom

The wind invisibly rushes out and in…

we try to comprehend but we have no chance

for we know only where she’s been…

as we watch the trees behind her dance.

Songs are the way birds talk, or perhaps the way they pray…

Do they always know the words…or sometimes…do they wing it

And though we don’t know what they’re trying to say…

we enjoy the way they sing it.

We know all living things talk to each other…

We know they’ve found a way

We know they’re conversing with their mother…

We just don’t know what they say.

But that’s okay with us…because we choose…

to enjoy their music and their dance      

without recognizing the words they use…

like when we visit Italy or France.

In a way it’s like we’re in a foreign land…

Nature’s land of trees and fish and birds

and tho their language we may never fully understand

we can enjoy the rhythm of their words.

I spotted her this morning as the sun was inching into view…

upon a leaf in front of me…a single drop of dew.

It seems the more time you spend in nature…the more talking with nature you do…

Hence my conversation with a single drop of dew.

I said to this little dew drop…”Hi, I don’t want to be a pain,

but are you a drop of morning dew…or are you left over from last night’s rain?”

The dew drop straightened upon the leaf…and when her beautification was through

she looked at me…smiling proudly and said…”I am clearly a drop of dew.”

“But I am more than just a dew drop…so much more than that.” She stated.

“I am part of every kind of water nature has created.”

“That’s difficult for me to believe.” I said. “Because when I look at you…

all that I can see is a single drop of dew.”

“That is only because for whatever reason you are stuck in your belief…

for at this moment I’m a teardrop…about to tumble off the leaf.”

“And once I jump from this leaf…if you’re quick you may ascertain…

as I fall down to the Earth…for one moment…I am a drop of rain.”

“And once I hit the Earth…without making the slightest sound…

I close my eyes and hold my breath as I’m absorbed into the ground.”

“From there I’ll join other dew drops who share a similar dream…

to unite together in friendship…to become a mountain stream.”

“The stream will carry us down the mountain…we know not what path we’ll take

Perhaps we’ll end up as a river…or eventually become a lake.”

“If I do become a river…it will fill my heart  with glee…

and I will happily ride the current…until it takes me to the sea.”

To become part of a vast ocean is every dew drop’s wish…

where we can help hold up the boats that sail our waves…

where we give life to every fish.”

“So if you only see a single drop of dew…when you look at me…well…then

may I suggest you take a moment to stop…and look again.”

With that the dew drop jumped form her leaf…and for a moment a drop of rain was all that I could see…and once she hit the ground I wished her a safe trip to the sea.

And I never will I look at a dew drop…or a person… the same again…

the way I did before….

For a dew drop taught me how nothing in nature is as singular 

or as simple as it seems…

How we’re all a part of so much more.

I believe nature is our teacher

that there are lessons in her trees...

in her flowers...

in her animals...

in her oceans...

in her seas...

She teaches us how life is beautiful...

how it’s wonderful to be alive.

She teaches us we need each other

in order to survive.

She teaches us how we’re all kindred spirits

every you…

and every I

How we’re meant to live harmoniously

with each other

with her winds...

her stars...

her sky…

But some of us have not been listening…

Some of us simply disobey…

Some of us seem to have forgotten…

Some of us have gone astray

Nature, however, is hopefully optimistic…

She knows if we will only heed her call

and practice the lessons she is teaching

she’ll make kindred spirits of us all.

I love to visit art museums…to see how the artist has found a way to capture what they see onto a canvas…my favorites are Van Gogh and Monet.

But when I can’t get to an art museum…not one tear do I shed….no, when I can’t get to an art museum…I look out my window instead.

For when I look out my window…nature’s art is what I see…I love the vibrant colors she uses to paint her birds, her flowers…her trees.

Most days the art outside my window makes me gasp…and often makes me sigh as I marvel at the intricacies of her brushstrokes…the way she paints the clouds…the rainbow colors of her sky.

And it never ceases to amaze me as I stare open-mouthed with my hands against my window pane…at how elegantly she paints the sunshine…and how delicately she paints the rain.

I once lamented having poor eyesight…being born with eyes that blur everything I view….eyes that do not see the world the way that other people do…

But without my glasses…looking out my window at the beginning of the day…I see an impression of the sunrise as painted by Monet.

And with my glasses off in the evening….at my window after turning off my light when I look up at the sky…I see Van Gogh’s starry night.

(Now I celebrate my blurry vision….because, in my heart, I know

It’s the reason I love the sunrises painted by Monet and the starry nights of Van Gogh.)

So when I can’t visit an art museum…I never grumble…never grouse…I simply make it a point to visit every window in my house.

Where I am blessed with a masterpiece painted by nature inside every window frame…

where thanks to the artistry of nature..no two paintings will ever be the same.