NATURE PLUS

[newmystic]

 
No matter how much nature thrills
with a host of golden daffodils,
or a poet’s being can subtly seize
the loveliness of stately trees,
or the scent of clematis, the smell of clover,
when at last our nature walk is over,
hearing the unseen bird’s last trill,
then hearing life’s far greater thrill
that, against nature’s best
is often our choice:
the friendly sound of a human voice.

I thought it was innocently delightful, like something I might imagine Anne Shirley reading as she's walking through a forest. however, it needs something meatier. it feels lacking in substance.

I heard that after certain fires in California that flower seeds that have lay dormant for decades or centuries even suddenly grow, revealing flowers that we haven't seen in a long time. this to me represents a more meaty symbol of nature "thrilling me" than just a plain old field of golden daffodils. if I were to focus on that theme, it might unpack something more of substance for the poem. it would make me think of a phoenix rising from the ash, of resurrection, of a butterfly emerging from a caterpillar. I would try to find a typology to tie this poem to...perhaps something religious, but doesn't have to be. I love typology. but also to keep it simple, fresh, innocent. it reminds me of Emily Dickinson. I actually quite like it the way it is, but it could be weightier. Dickinson was very weighty in her poems. this feels more romantic than weighty.

Matthew