Friday, May 29, 2009

The Glory of Nature, and School Prayer


Ruby Beach, on the Washington coast


Western trillium


Mount St. Helens


Marymere Falls, Olympic National Park


Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park

It gives me pleasure to consider the beauty I've seen when traveling once the trip is over. This journey had many pleasures, in meeting people, in learning about personal and general history, in the chance to roam outside and see nature in its many forms, from rolling wheat lands, to desert, to swollen rivers and placid lakes, to snow-covered mountains. I've been going through my photos, picking which ones to keep and which ones to discard. These are a few I liked. It has been a while since I posted a poem, so I chose this Diane Ackerman poem, which expresses nicely a prayer in response to nature's beauty.

School Prayer
Diane Ackerman

In the name of daybreak
and the eyelids of morning
and the wayfaring noon
and the night when it departs,

I swear I will not dishonor
my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly
as a guardian of nature,
as a healer of misery,
as a messenger of wonder,
as an architect of peace.

In the name of the sun and its mirrors
And the day that embraces it
and the cloud veils drawn over it
and the uttermost night
and the male and the female
and the plants bursting with seed
and the crowning seasons
of the firefly and the apple,

I will honor all life
--wherever and in whatever form
it may dwell-- on Earth my home,
and in the mansions of the stars.




3 comments:

Sharon said...

Welcome home, Sherry! I look forward to hearing all about your travels to the great Pacific NW. I think this lovely poem should be read daily.

JoAnn said...

Sherry, wonderful photos and I am enjoying your narrative so far and looking forward to more!

J

Margaret Ann said...

This poem takes my breath away...simply reaches into my soul.