Tag Archives: trees

Nature Remains

“the bracing and buoyant equilibrium of concrete outdoor Nature, the only permanent reliance for sanity of book or human life.”

-Walt Whitman

“The trick is, I find, to tone your wants and tastes low down enough, and make much of negatives, and of mere daylight and the skies…  After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, love, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains? Nature remains; to bring out from their torpid recesses, the affinities of a man or woman with the open air, the trees, fields, the changes of seasons — the sun by day and the stars of heaven by night.”

-Walt Whitman

Become Whole Again

“Trees in particular were mysterious and seemed to me direct embodiments of the incomprehensible meaning of life. For that reason the woods were the place where I felt closest to its deepest meaning and to its awe-inspiring workings…The tree brings back all that has been lost through Christ’s extreme spiritualization, namely the elements of nature. Through its branches and leaves the tree gathers the powers of light and air, and through its roots those of the earth and the water… You must go in quest of yourself, and you will find yourself again only in the simple and forgotten things. Why not go into the forest for a time, literally? Sometimes a tree tells you more than can be read in books… ”

-Carl Jung

“Only when I walked into the forest did the world become whole again.”

-Lars Muhl

Walk Slowly and Bow Often

When I Am Among the Trees (by Mary Oliver)
“When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
-Mary Oliver

The Beauty of the Trees, The Softness of the Air

“The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,…speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky… speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning… speaks to me.
The strength of fire, the trail of the sun and the life that never goes away. They speak to me and my heart soars.”
~Chief Dan George
They speak to me too…

 

Winter Wonderland

“we walk
hand in hand
the wind whipping
around us like
a kind of magic
shimmering off the branches
the trees laced with snow,
tiny dancers spring from the ground
like dust, tossed
here and there on
the wind …
spinning
twirling
swaying
to a song that only
they can hear
oh but how romantic
did they appear
And yes
how it moved me …
To each side of us,
shimmering towers of white
rose reaching for the sky
as if grasping for the hem
of heaven itself
And here
in this mystic place,
time seemed to slow
and the cold could
not touch our soul
nor pierce our hearts
Our hearts, which walked
between the towers of ice
and beat as one, unscathed
by icy spells or bewitched
by the beauty of this enchanting
forest, drifted away on a sea of
mesmerizing romantic possibilities
in our very own winter wonderland”
-Michael Traveler, “Winter Wonderland”

In the Stillness of the Trees I Am at Home

“I will wait here in the fields to see how well the rain brings on the grass.

In the labor of the fields longer than a man’s life I am at home. Don’t come with me. You stay home too.

I will be standing in the woods where the old trees move only with the wind and then with gravity.

In the stillness of the tress I am at home. Don’t come with me.

You stay at home too.”

-Wendell Berry

 

My Your Heart Soar

“The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.

The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea,
speaks to me.

The faintness of the stars,
the freshness of the morning,
the dew drop on the flower,
speaks to me.

The strength of fire,
the taste of salmon,
the trail of the sun,
And the life that never goes away,
They speak to me.
And my heart soars”

-Chief Dan George

All of these moments that Chief George eloquently lists make my heart soar too! And my unbounded soaring heart is activated by all that surrounds me here – at home. Simple and sweet gifts of nature and love, and the “beauty of the trees and the softness of the air” touch me to my molecules.

May you feel your heart soar as precious moments compel your complete attention and are indelibly etched on mind and memory…