Nature Is

Nature is the environment, certainly,
clouds delivering rain, ice or snow, 
wildlife in petite abundance, surviving 
in shrinking forests and flooded plains.

Nature is a single leaf, emerald green,
with intricate veins and living cells,
drawing energy, so miraculously,
from daylight born in our distant sun.

Nature is a flowing lava bed, growing
the landscape as magma spews from gaping mouths;
the inferno below on which continents waft 
provides the liquid that both destroys and creates.

Nature is with us when the earth moves
and buildings collapse from the upheaval;
and when the waves come inland shortly after,
sometimes thousands of miles away.

Nature is the process by which living things
propagate, enlarging their sphere of life,
interacting with surroundings of their own
making, or that which has been handed to them.

Nature is a set of calculations collaborating
to control every action and reaction,
refusing to be completely understood by
anything or anyone within its domain. 

Nature is mankind, though many think it is not.
Everything humans create is equally nature; 
"man-made" is an ambiguity, a delusion
by those who believe we can be set apart.

Published in "The Dilettante's Garden" and "Eloquence"
by Jack Huber- All rights reserved

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