Good heavens

Good heavens,

of what uncostly material is our

earthly happiness composed… if we only knew it.

What incomes have we not had from a flower, and how

unfailing are the dividends of the seasons.

- James Russell Lowell -

Some keep the Sabbath

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church,
I keep it staying at Home -
With a bobolink for a Chorister,
And an Orchard, for a Dome.
- Emily Dickinson -

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
- George Gordo -

I remember a hundred lovely lakes

I remember

a hundred lovely lakes,

and recall the fragrant breath

of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees.

The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk,

opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets.

It has given me blessed release from care

and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day.

It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful.

Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my

blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail;

and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn,

my cares fall from me – I am happy.

- Hamlin Garland -

And how should a beautiful

And how should a beautiful,

ignorant stream of water know it

heads for an early release – out across the desert,

running toward the Gulf, below sea level, to murmur its lullaby,

and see the Imperial Valley rise out of burning sand with cotton blossoms,

wheat, watermelons, roses, how should it know?

- Carl Sandburg  -

I am not bound

I am not bound

for any public place,

but for ground of my own where

I have planted vines and orchard trees,

and in the heat of the day climbed up into

the healing shadow of the woods.

Better than any argument is to rise at dawn

and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.

- Wendell Berry -

Look at the trees

Look at the trees,

look at the birds, look at the clouds,

look at the stars… and if you have eyes

you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful.

Everything is simply happy.

Trees are happy for no reason;

they are not going to become prime

ministers or presidents and they are not

going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance.

Look at the flowers – for no reason.

It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.

- Osho   -

Climb the mountains

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.

The winds will blow their own freshness into you,

and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

- John Muir -

I love to think of nature

I love to think of nature as an

unlimited broadcasting station,

through which God speaks to us every hour,

if we will only tune in.

- George Washington Carver -