Thursday, June 26, 2014

Mark Nepo - A conversation with the elements



"We are so close to the Earth that we often forget—it is alive. 
And the language of its aliveness is what we call nature. 
When we listen to nature, we are listening to the Earth. 
Of course, such a conversation takes time, 
because we are too small to readily grasp what the Earth has to say. 
The vast Earth has carried us our whole lives. Can we thank it? 
 It has held up and endured everything for thousands of years.
Can we ask it how? 

It speaks with a thousand tongues, none of which uses words. 
 Yet, to build a relationship with that which holds us up seems essential.
But what can we hear? 

As the smog we’ve created prevents us from seeing the sky, 
the noise of machinery we’ve created prevents us 
from hearing the wind and birds and quiet teachers 
that have always been there. 
When I leave the mechanical hive, even briefly, 
I can tell that the horse runs to know its father, the wind. 

Just the other day, I took a walk where there is no pavement. 
I lost my way and followed two geese 
 until I reached the end of my small logic.”

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