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
Photo by Maria Khatami on Unsplash
Wonderful and so moving. I am a tree hugger and I will forward this to friends. Thank you.
I live in a retirement village which has a perimeter road that on one side passes through cottages with gardens, shrubs and trees, and on the other side passes between a main road and the village’s, tarred, covered parking slots. As I walk around I can sense the difference between the two sides, the side with the gardens is definitely the more benign of the two.