WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES
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 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.”
Poem by Mary Oliver
REFLECTION:
- Always in a rush… on to the next task? When was the last time you took a walk among the trees?
- The trees have a message: Go easy… you have come into the world to be filled with light and shine.
- Is today a day to take a walk among the willows, the oaks the pines?
- Listen for the trees as they call out “stay awhile.”
- If not today, when?
