A Nature Poem

 A Nature Poem

You expect, perhaps, 

a paean to trees,

an effusion on the beauty 

of hills and rivers,

or a towering 

ode to mountains?

But, floating all over

the internet lately 

is the reminder: we too

are part of nature –

and I wonder, what is

my natural self?

If you’ve never known

who you really are,

for all the other people

talking in your head –

parents, teachers, Society –

can you be true to yourself?

‘Know thyself’ said God

to the ancient Greeks. 

I always thought that advice

was Biblical, for the Hebrews. 

But no, it came from 

beautiful Apollo. 

Golden Apollo

who embodied the sun,

master of music

and poetry. Or did it come 

from Socrates, 

most rational of men?

At this point I realise:

all these tangents

and speculations

exemplify human nature.

We are in our heads, far

from the other creatures.

So it’s unlikely

we’ll save them,

or even ourselves,

from what our brains

have wrought. Would I 

have done better after all

to write in praise

of seas and mountains,

trees and rivers, hills?

But if you need a poem

to point out beauty,

are we not already lost?

The title is the 22nd prompt from Poetic Asides for April 2021.

I'm sharing this, six months later, at Friday Writings #4 for Poets and Storytellers United, where Magaly invites us to explore 'Pain in Ink' or to choose our own topic. This probably counts as unprompted, although it does record a type of existential pain.