#nature

THE LANGUAGE OF ROMANCE THE SEQUEL

 

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.

 
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THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE

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.

 
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FOLLOWING THE DEW

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.

 
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KINRED SPIRITS OF US ALL

 

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.

 
 
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WINDOW ART

 

 

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.

 

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STILL A LOT TO LEARN

 

We come from Earth…we are but one part of nature…our brothers and sisters are the land and the sea and the rain…but too often we think we are better than nature…because, we think, we have a superior brain.

 

We think we’ve evolved beyond nature’s lessons…which causes nature every day to beseech us…pleading how we still have so much to learn…and she…still so much to teach us.

 

Take acceptance for instance…after millenniums of watching us…nature continues to be concerned…for she knows there is still so much about accepting one another we have yet to learn.

 

Do the animals care what we look like…if we are tall, short, heavy or thin?

Do the flowers care what God we pray to?

Do the oceans even notice the color of our skin?

 

Does the snow or rain care about your gender or who you love?

Do trees stand in judgement of you?

Does the Earth draw boundaries across her lands…

or is this something only we humans do?

 

No, nature continues to try and teach us how we’re all connected…

how every part of nature is our sister and our brother….

and that she doesn’t care who or how we love…

only that we love one another.

 

It’s a lesson natures’ been trying to teach us throughout all of human history…

a lesson she hopes we humans…

with our superior brains…

one day will be able to see.

 

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THE SOUL OF NATURE

 

The silence of the darkness on my early morning strolls is as close as I have ever come to experiencing nature’s soul.

 

There is a beauty in her silence at the beginning of the day…a tranquil kind of mystery that can take your breath away.

 

Have you ever stood in silence under a starry sky…and not wonder what you’re doing here…not wonder how and why.

 

Have you ever stood in the silence of a falling snow…or watched clouds silently changing shape as they’ve drifted to and fro?

 

Have you ever walked in silence through a field filled with flowers…and as you experience the wondrous varieties of life…not wondered about a higher power?

 

Have you ever sat in the comfort of silence with a loved one…and in your heart concede…that, at that particular moment, you have everything you need?

 

In the aftermath of a death…the ultimate silent tragedy…who hasn’t felt the silence that was once your friend…become your enemy.

 

Sadness rides in with the silence for there is a silent moment when…you realize you will never see or hear or touch that person in your life again.

 

And even though you know they’re gone…still…every now and then throughout the years…isn’t it in the silence of your loneliness you cry your deepest tears.

 

But isn’t it also in the silent darkness when you begin to feel yourself ascend…and the silence that was just your enemy…once more…becomes your friend

 

And again you feel the comfort of the silence…your smile returns because you know…it is in the silence of the evening when the trees begin to grow…

 

It’s in the silence of the days when the flowers create their blooms…and where does the miracle of life begin if not in the silence of a mother’s womb?

 

My morning walk is over and as I finish up this latest stroll…I feel blessed that nature has allowed me a silent look into her soul

 

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ANOTHER WALK IN NATURE

 

 

The more we walk in unspoiled nature…the more we hear her sounds and see her sights…the more and more we realize the Native American’s had it right…

 

On our walk the other day…once again we were in awe…

let me share with you to some of the sights and sounds…some of the wonders that we heard and saw.

 

We heard many different birds singing…with various musical abilities

We heard the sound of water meeting the land and the wind whispering to the trees.

 

We saw the delicate intricacies of the spiders and the webs they all had spun.

We saw the beauty of the lake as its water glimmered in the sun.

 

We saw the bright yellows of the smooth beggarticks that all around us grew…the purples of the climbing asters and mist flowers painted blue

 

We saw the vibrant colors of the butterflies…Yellow, pink and white…

and herons everywhere we looked…in colors blue and white.

 

We saw alligators lurking in the marsh…moss filled trees alive and dead…we saw moorhens swimming with the alligators with eagles flying overhead.

 

So you can see how, with every walk we take in nature…the more we hear her sounds and see her sights…the more and more convinced we are…the Native American’s had it right…

 

It’s also way we try to walk in the footprints of their ancestors as often as we can…

so we can feel the same wonders they felt

walking in spaces 

that have not been rearranged by man.

 

 

WHERE THE FIRE MEETS THE MOON

 

 

Sitting around a campfire recently I quickly became attuned…to the beauty of the nature surrounding me…to the trees…the stars…the moon.

 

The fire was truly fascinating…as I felt its warmth and watched its flames I realized with every one I’ve ever sat beside how no two fires are the same.

 

As I watched the flames of this fire grow higher, reaching to the sky…every now and then a flame would break away and, on its own, would fly…

 

I’d watch it slowly float up…up…up into the night…until it flew so high it faded from my sight.

 

And, as my eyes turned upward, my attention was quickly seized by the moon as she floated in the sky…smiling through the trees.

 

It was one of those moment is life…watching the fire…listening to the voices of family and friends…that I wished would last forever…

that I hoped would never end.

 

And when the flames had breathed their last…I smiled hoping the next campfire would come soon…giving me another chance to sit with family and friends…where the fire meets the moon.

 

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