This is a poem about taking inspiration and consolation from nature, seeking sagacity and solace in the wild, especially when the world around us seems to be conspiring against positive action.
Nature Knows
A poem by Wayne Visser
When all the world seems upside down The fool’s on the hill The king is a clown When headline news loud-speaks the views Of puppeteers of fears And naysayers of the truth When leaders’ voices are hollow choices Of dumb-down beats of tweets And two-fingers to the youth Take a step back from the black And white, the stereotype The media hype, the Trumptown blues And choose a world of hues From greens to greys, and reds to browns The rounds of seasons, synchro-reasons Of sun and moon, the tune Of vitality that sprouts and grows The harmony, the symphony, the flows That nature knows When all the roads seem nowhere bound The signs contradict The noise has no sound When every maze just adds to the craze Of shallow aims in games And hamster wheels for jobs When Wall Street belies, in suits and ties Their ugly creed of greed And clever ways to rob Take a deep breath, defy the death Of hope, the hangman’s rope The doomsday dope, the victim’s shoes And choose a forest of clues Of roots and shoots From seeds to stems, and buds to leaves The trees of jungles, the rumbles Of beast and storm, the dawn Of light and flight and lucent bows The illumination, the revelation, the glows That nature shows When all that’s lost can scarce be found The love swept away The faith nearly drowned When silent strings, like broken wings Leave empty spaces in places Where music once soared When prophets’ words sound more absurd Than the Mad Hatter’s patter And the Jabberwocky’s chord Take a great leap, take time to reap What you have sown, from flesh and bone From mind clone and idea muse And choose an earthscape of do’s Not don’t’s and won’t’s But can’s and will’s, and better still The thrills of striving, life thriving Through trial and error, through terror To yellow dreams and scarlet rose The magnificence, the intelligence, the prose That nature knows.
Source
From Change the World: Poems for Positive Action