Community with the Inanimate

Had some rocks in for coffee or babysat a brood of snowflakes recently?

Yesterday morning our headmaster opened our professional development day reading an excerpt from Parker Palmer’s book To Know As We Are Known. He mentioned education bringing scholars into community--with the teacher, with each other, and also with the subject matter--not just literature and history, but even the inanimate universe like rocks and math equations. Suddenly I thought of a poem I’d written more than two decades ago for one of my daughters on her second birthday:

A rock is a rock is a rock

Is heavy, hard, and old.

It can hold your foot to cross a rill,

Or skip on the pool below the mill, 

Or patiently bear an ancient hill,

For from the time the stars were born

Until they all burn out

All the rocks will sing

In their rocky way

Their heavy, hard, and rocky hymn.

Water is water is water

Is fluid, formless, wet.

It can gather deep in a summer pool,

Or fill your cup, all fresh and cool,

Or glint on a spider web like a jewel,

For from the time the stars were born

Until they all burn out

All water will sing

In its watery way

Its fluid, formless, watery hymn.

A flower is a flower is a flower

Is living, leafy, bright.

It can cheer the world with a vivid hue,

Or scent the day on the rising dew,

Or make a fairy crown for you,

For from the time the stars were born

Until they all burn out

All flowers will sing

In their flowery way

Their living, leafy, flowery hymn.

Caitlin is Caitlin is Caitlin

Is active, young, and strong.

You can pick up your toys (or make a start),

Or share your cake (at least a part),

Or mind your mom with a happy heart,

For from the time the stars were born

Until they all burn out

You were made to sing 

In your Caitliny way

Your active, young, Caitliny hymn.

Doing my bit for community, I dug up the poem, sent it to the headmaster, and then read it to my social studies and English department colleagues in the closing meeting of the day. And now I share it with you.

May we all find the pleasure of doing what we were created to do, and feeling the pleasure of the Creator as we do it, in community with all the rest of creation.