Art © 2004
by David Elliot

Welcome!

The pages in this section are devoted to nature — to Mother Earth and her many inspirations. To explore my nature books, environmental writings and interviews, and favorite ways to help the Earth — choose from the menu on the right.

Or ... if you're in the mood for some marvelous poems inspired by nature — here are a few of my favorites:

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
—William Blake

The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
—Wendell Berry

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
—Lord Byron

People say that walking on water is a miracle. But to me, walking peacefully on the Earth is the real miracle. The Earth is a miracle. Each step is a miracle. Taking steps on our beautiful planet can bring real happiness.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

For a poem that is hauntingly beautiful and deeply wise, read William Wordsworth's Lines Written Above Tintern Abbey. May it "disturb you with joy"!