Poems About Nature

Teach your children
what we have taught our children –
that the earth is our mother
Whatever befalls the earth
befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.
If men spit upon the ground,
they spit upon themselves.
This we know
The earth does not belong to us,
we belong to the earth
This we know
All things are connected
like the blood which unites one family.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth
befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.
We do not weave the web of life,
We are merely a strand in it.
Whatever we do to the web,
we do to ourselves.
~ Chief Seattle

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky,
The rhythm of the sea, speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning,
the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me.
The strength of the fire, the taste of salmon, the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away, they speak to me
And my heart soars.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is religion in everything around us,
A calm and holy religion
In the unbreathing things in Nature.
It is a meek and blessed influence,
Stealing in as it were unaware upon the heart,
It comes quickly, and without excitement,
It has no terror, no gloom
It does not rouse up the passions;
It is untrammelled by creeds
It is written on the arched sky,
It looks out from every star,
It is on the sailing cloud and in the invisible wind,
It is among the hills and valleys of the earth
Where the shrubless mountain-top pierces the thin atmosphere of eternal winter,
Or where the mighty forest fluctuates before the strong wind,
With its dark waves of green foliage;
It is spread out like a legible language upon the broad face of an unsleeping ocean;
It is the poetry of Nature;
It is that which uplifts the spirit within us
And which opens to our imagination of world of spiritual beauty and holiness.
~ John Ruskin

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

O our Mother the Earth,blessed is your name.

Blessed are your fields and forests, your rocks and mountains,

your grasses and trees and flowers, and every green and growing thing.

Blessed are your streams and lakes and rivers,
the oceans where our life began, and all your waters that sustain our bodies and refresh our souls.

Blessed is the air we breathe, your atmosphere, that surrounds us and binds us to every living thing.

Blessed are all creatures who walk along your surface or swim in your waters or fly through your air, for they are our relatives.

Blessed are all the people who share this planet, for we are all one family, and the same spirit moves through us all.

Blessed is the sun, our day star, bringer of morning and the heat of summer, giver of light and life.

Blessed is the moon, our night lamp, ruler of the tides, protector of all women, and guardian of our dreams.

Blessed are the stars and planets, the time-keepers, who fill our nights with beauty and our hearts with awe.

O Great Spirit whose voice we hear in the wind and whose face we see in the morning sun, blessed is your name

Help us to remember that you are everywhere, and teach us the way of peace.