From My Mother’s Poetry Notebook: Lessons from nature
From the prisons of anxious tho’ts that greed has builded,
From the fetters that envy has wrought, and pride had gilded,
From the noise of the crowded ways and the fierce confusion,
From the folly that wastes its days in the world of illusion,
(Ah, but the life is lost that frets and languishes there!)
I would escape to be free in the joy of the open air.
By the faith that the flowers show when they bloom unbidden,
By the calm of the river’s flow to a goal that is hidden,
By the trust of the tree that clings to its deep foundation,
By the courage of wild birds’ wings on the longing migration,
(Wonderful secret of peace that abides in nature’s breast!)
Teach me how to confide, and live my life, and rest.
~ H. Van Dyke (untitled)
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