spirits of trees

“I am in love with the green earth.”

Charles Lamb

Fig greets everything; people, geese, trees, slugs, flowers, bees…you name it, she’ll say ‘hi’ to it.  I remember when Pip was her age she did the same thing.  Isn’t it lovely?  We should all be spreading our good energy to every living thing.  I’m sure the flowers and trees appreciate it at some level.

Many years ago I was introduced to an e.e.cummings poem that fast became a favourite.  I began a little ritual.  Whenever I was out in nature, feeling appreciative, I would recite the first stanza.  I taught it to my students when we were climbing hills in Bolivia and we recited it when we were paddling down a  tributary of the Amazon river.  I remember reciting it when I was dancing with hundreds of people on the streets of Basseterre in St.Kitts watching the sun rise over the Caribbean Sea, and now I say it when I’m with my girls.

The other day we were on a little forest trail, just the three of us, and we came across a giant root.  “Look at this enormous root!” I had said.

“Hello, Root,” Fig said.

“Hello, Root,” Pip and I echoed.  That’s when I introduced them to  e.e.cummings’ poem.

You don’t have to believe in God to appreciate it; I don’t see it as a religious poem as much as a spiritual poem.  It’s best if you read it aloud, with gusto!  So go ahead…let this gorgeous combination of words roll off of your tongue:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

Is it possible to NOT feel grateful after that?