“Suddenly, in every tree,
Tweet
an unseen nest
where a mountain
would be.”
– Tess Gallagher
In his essay on outer and inner ecologies, activist Satish Kumar wrote, “Making peace with ourselves is a prerequisite for making peace with the earth.” To relate ecologically to our environments is to be aware of the perspectives and the details that surround us the web of interbeing. We make a continuous stream of choices, as expressed here in Tess Gallagher’s poem – the simple image of a person, saw in hand, simply stopping, simply putting aside their desires for sake of the birds’ nests. Sometimes we have the choice to turn away from the harm we might do, while at other times, that capacity escapes us.
Choices
I go to the mountain side
of the house to cut saplings,
and clear a view to snow
on the mountain. But when I look up,
saw in hand, I see a nest clutched in
the uppermost branches.
I don’t cut that one.
I don’t cut the others either.
Suddenly, in every tree,
an unseen nest
where a mountain
would be.
for Drago Štambuk
Tess Gallagher
From: Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems
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something about nature brings humanity into sharp relief, the choice to be kind, to be practical, or both. trees are certainly friends of wisdom!