With the presidential Marine 1 helicopter chopping its blades over our offices yesterday, Earth Day didn't feel very green here at Sanford Greenburger. Obama was on his way to scold Wall Street at nearby Cooper Union. Sirens blared, traffic snarled.
But then I received this beautiful message in an email from poet and novelist George Ella Lyon, and the two worlds grafted together.
THE MEADOW DOES NOT KNOW
about the stock market.
Today she is worth
exactly what she was worth
yesterday, a year ago, at creation.
I don’t mean property value,
taxable assets. I mean
milkweed and copper moths
honeybees, cow vetch,
king snakes.
Meadow life
is not money.
What rises
and falls here are stems
and flowers, leaves and fruit.
No zigzag line of profit and panic
but the great wheel turning.
Here God gives of her
extravagance and here, like
flicker, viceroy, dragonfly
we come into our inheritance.
-- Earth Poems, George Ella Lyon
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5 comments:
I stumbled across your blog and this poem at just the right moment. I was feeling guilty about all the brochures I picked up at an Earth Day which I don't hope to read, and will probably recycle. Life's ironies appear at inopportune moments. Thanks for the post to add the right spirit to the week.
beautiful.
Beautiful
Thanks for sharing it. Brenda.
We need more poets among us.
I also just stumbled across your blog. And I also wanted to thank you for sharing. May day was starting out kind of crummy and you've put things in better perspective for me. Thank you!
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