It’s so difficult to watch the pictures of the Amazon burning, knowing that there’s so little that can be done, at least in the short run, even as some countries offer millions in aid. One way I stay sane is by sending healing thoughts to nature, just as, on so many days, nature heals me. Rather than write more here, I found a few quotes by poets I admire, as well as the above quote by the late Nobel Laureate and environmentalist Wangari Maathai. They remind me to pause, bless our summer raspberries, and send healing thoughts to the Amazon. (I figure it never hurts).
“Said the river: imagine everything you can imagine, then keep on going.” Mary Oliver
“Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.” Wallace Stevens
“Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.” Wendell Berry.
A Navajo Chant:
The Mountains, I become part of it.
The herbs, the fir tree, I become part of it.
The morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters,
I become part of it.
The wilderness, the dew drops, the pollen…
I become part of it.
From the book Earth Prayers.
