Our Nature

Brown Earth loosely scattered,
Matted with twigs, pebbles, glass, fallen leaves, footprints, smells and scents,
Kissed by the Sun, befriended by the Wind, circled by the Moon,
She’s been lazing under a blue sky for centuries,
In the Wind, she has an unlikely friend, who plays and sways and runs like a child,
While, Earth like an ailing old woman suns in her verandah, cracking her knuckles,
Wind cajoles and cries to come run with her, through the mustard fields, lush valleys and house of concrete,
A smug Earth smiles and says, ‘I am bound by my nature,
Infused with energies that ties me to the ground,
No matter how hard or long I try, I can never learn to fly,
Wind, my dear, I am made this way.’
Suddenly, a playful Wind dashes through the sky, sprinting like a deer,
Kicking up a dust-storm, tossing Earth like a dinghy in the ocean, riding the waves,
The calm and poise of moments ago is replaced by a reckless abandon, wild and free.

Human nature is infused with the many energies of anger, greed, desire and ego. It’s not easy to fight our nature. We only have to observe our own thoughts to know how violent and self-serving, the best of us can be. Therefore, like the earth we need a little help to fly, and that is what silence, mediation and prayers does, it gives us wings.