"Wisdom Of The Forest": Connect With Nature To Restore

This meditative nature poem written and spoken by Jeanine Cerundolo speaks to speaks to our hearts when we find ourselves caught up in racing and chasing, losing connection to solid ground. With a beautiful elm as inspiration, this poem illustrates how a simple connection with nature can teach us that there's always a fresh chance to: renew, restore, and grow at any moment-starting from exactly where we ARE. Enjoy your journey of integrating all the places and spaces within and around you that make you, you.

Transcript

Welcome.

In this day and age of being human doings,

Sometimes more than human beings,

We can get caught up in the hustle,

The bustle,

The rush,

The chasing.

And sometimes a walk in the woods,

A connection with a tree that we come across or looking up at the big,

Big sky can just remind us our place.

Not to make us feel small,

But to make us feel a part of it all.

I wrote this poem thinking about how we dance,

Connect,

And honor the different pieces of life,

Both the flourishing and the thriving,

But also some of the crumpled up,

Hurting or wounded places that have learned to let go and work around pain into a new future like tree roots you can see in pavement who still find a way to push on up through.

This poem is about a particular elm tree that is magnificent and gorgeous but has one place where the branch was cut or maybe lightning struck it and it had to be severed and that ache in its being made it no less magnificent,

Special,

And grand.

It's a poem from my collection,

Love and Longing,

Called Wisdom of the Forest.

Wisdom of the Forest by Janine Cerundolo.

See the blackness in our branches,

The places we are marked by nights of despair.

Yes,

Child,

There are some dead places here.

We live around them,

Taking their hollowness into our hearts and growing a garden there.

So many new things are born from the bark,

The snapping,

The shedding,

The kindling,

Turned to ash and energy by fire or transformed into cracks of gold.

You do not need to know,

Child,

Some things you do not need to know.

And you do not need to decide or do.

Bend with the wind,

Spark with the lightning,

Enjoy the falling,

The unfolding,

The renewing.

Your quest for answers has been troubling your truth.

Your thirst for knowledge is confusing what you already know.

Your hunger to be there now might deprive you of the feast found in freedom.

For what is wise is also humble.

It is right to be here.

It is enough to notice.

Bear witness to the life that is living itself through your veins.

Honor it by being its window and its bird.

There is nowhere to turn except where the wind blows,

Gifting you direction as she flows.

Even then,

You can feel her brush against the steadiness of your skin while you stand,

Rooted and tall,

Grounded and expansive,

Familiar and new.