Tiny, little specks of
white flecks…
flowers poking
through the crevice
of the public transportation train station.
I was filled with judgment
until that moment…
the things things that were not going right,
the person who had not set me up
for success…
the list of my complaints long.
Until that moment.
The flowers were not complaining
that they had to grow
in a crack,
in a crevice
on the edge of concrete
at a station
instead of in a beautiful field
with room to breathe and grow.
They were just being flowers.
Being beautiful
whether anyone cared
or noticed
at all.
I was one big complaint…
until that moment…
when i stooped down
and touched their magnificence
and was humbled to my core.
julia butterfly hill March 2009
Julia, LOVE the poem!! revelation, serendipity… Redwing Blackbirds here and a Carolina Wren singing, neighbors making maple syrup…Sweet Spring on its way… be well, kip
there’s a little tree on the roof of a train platform not far from my home. Every time I see it I think “…holy cow…”. Every time I somehow expect to see it eradicated, by the wind or starved by the absence of soil. But it still hang on. It still hang on, and I really wonder how.
Hello Julia!
You’re poem was just lovely! I could picture the scene only too easy in my mind. (Especially the very end…
“when i stooped down
and touched their magnificence
and was humbled to my core.”)
Yes, it’s rather silly of me to be quoting a poem that you wrote, but that’s okay!
I wrote a poem about forest sounds that sort of reminded me of yours.
What do you think?
Calming,
the silent melodies of dew
landing on the sharp grass
splattering like rain
onto the tiny beings.
Listening more,
hearing the quiet bird
chirping its poem
secretly longing
to speak.
Under the soil,
sit tiny worms
wiggling through the brown,
tranquilly living.
Beside the clouds,
soar many planes
with beaks and feathers,
enjoying their freedom.
Upon a leaf,
sits a tiny man,
laughing into his hand,
slowly nodding his head.
Dear Julia,
My name is Matt Starr and in no way shape or form related to Ken Starr. ( just to get that out of the way.) I was in a used book store last week and came across your book, ( no this is not a pick up line ) I read the back and set it back on the shelf and had to come back to it. I’m about half way through it now, fell asleep on the couch today with it on my chest.
Have to tell you before I go any further that I haven’t had TV for about 10 yrs. ( by choice.) After I woke I jumped online and found your site. There is a lot you can tell about a person listening to them talk, watching their eyes…and I just had to see for my self. I have to tell you that you brought tears to my eyes.
I could ramble on for pages…but what I really wanted to say here is thank you. Thank you for standing up. Thank you for risking, everything to save Luna and the surrounding trees.
As you already know there are not enough of people like you in this world. It’s heartbreaking. But what is inspirational and keeps us going forward is when we find people like you.
I’m not an activist Julia, but I do know right from wrong. My mother passed along her passionate heart…and what you’ve done for the forest she did for animals. Her name was Myrtle Starr and before cancer took her she freed a herd of Mustang horses from a guy in Solvang California that was starving them.
Julia this email is just meant for you…I was just moved my your book, and touched when I watched the documentary online. And as I said, listening just brought tears. So again, thank you Julia Butterfly Hill.
M. Starr
You’re right,
who are we to complain — we are alive!
Yet life is much harder for us than for flowers.
We not only need to be just ourselves,
bright as flowers,
we also need to change the things
that keep flowers less than bright.
that’s life
best citation I read on twitter a few weeks ago:
“If you don’t like the situation, move. You are not a tree!”
I read your book years ago, sent it on in bookcrossing, only God knows where it is now but I got a few messages and know that it did touch a few more people.
I’m not vegetarian, not an activist, I’m very ordinary – but I would – just like you – feel very happy at the sight of those flowers!
I’m very happy to have found your blog.
Keep up your important work!!
Josephine in Brussels (I moved in January 2008
http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx193/wingwth/Copyof3819_file_lion_Kleberg22.jpg
4 u thnx