We facilitated a series of workshops for the Brussels office of an international NGO that promotes sustainable development and the protection of the world’s resources. At the start of the first workshop, we asked participants to bring back something from nature that would reflect a topic they wanted to explore during the workshop.
I was inspired by the beautiful stories and metaphors that emerged from this check in round and started writing the poem “The Wisdom of Nature”. It was completed the morning after.
The poem was further published in the May 2016 issue “On the Edge – for leaders in systemic change and innovation, in life and work.” by Ria Baeck. (Image below)
The wisdom of nature
If we could listen
To the wisdom of nature,
To what the bees know,
And the apple, and the leaves,
And the blossom on the trees,
We wouldn’t have to think so much
About being intelligently collective,
We would just be.
We would understand
That one plus one is three
And most times even more.
We would expect the sun to be sun
And the tree to be tree.
We would accept that the wind
Is both the gentle god of cross-fertilisation
And the evil force of annihilation.
If we could listen
To the wisdom within a fight,
To the voice that has become silent,
To all that is other and different;
And to the sharks under water,
We would begin to transform
From acting at random
To flying in formation.
Dorothy Oger