This is what I wrote last year about what inspired the design and the poem.
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“I am drawn to the arboretum’s small, enveloping clearings in the trees and feel nurtured by them. Many of the individual trees, themselves, seem delicate and vulnerable. These feelings recall my recent entry into motherhood, my work for global sustainability and my increasing awareness of global warming and I see parallels in my instinct to nurture at various scales. I appreciate the trees - how each fragile one, in its ‘breathing,’ continually works to maintain our atmosphere. I see the mutual nurturing as a circle - where we are both a ‘child of’ as well as a ‘parent of’ the earth.”
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I'd also been singing a lot of lullaby songs, which I think affected the rhythm of it. I sometimes sang this poem to my boys to try it out to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," or "All the Pretty Little Horses."
2 comments:
Here is the text-selectable version of the poem. You are free to use it as long as you credit the author.
Children’s Nest Egg
By Jonee Kulman Brigham
The bird and flower, man and beast
we all are one, from best to least
We come from Earth and breathe her sky
her water flows through you and I
We take her trees to make our nest
our children’s home in which to rest
We feast upon her fruits and grains
and she provides, despite her pains
She seems immense, invincible
yet seen from space, so very small
To leave our young her gifts of wild
she must be cared for as our child
© Jonee Kulman Brigham, 2007, 2008
I really love your poem. It evokes images of strength and fragility, coexisting as they do in our environment and lives. You show the relationship of Earth as both our source for life and dependent on us to take care of her and not abuse her. You expressed it beautifully, and I wish people all over the world would head the call to protect the Earth and think about the effects of what they do. Nice job, Jonee!
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