#GazelliMusings

During lockdown, we have found ourselves reaching out and connecting in new ways. We’ve very much been enjoying working with Amanda Stuermer, in collaboration with The World Muse, on a writing circle that sets a new prompt each week and invites our mutual communities across the globe to submit words, poems, prose… all of which contribute to writing ‘the story of us’ – a collective piece that ties our words together in one sequence. Below you will find the cumulative words of week 2, where we drew upon our connection as human beings to nature. The results are beautiful. Thank you to all who contributed.

I will remember

dusty honky streets 

silenced by disease 

as nature reminds us

of her power 

her ferocity

 

I hear the morning bird sing

a song that had been lost to my ears 

I hear the morning rainfall drizzle

its blessing on the parched earth 

chests choke with pain

as walls of haze break open 

nature is birthing again

mountains stand tall

birds awaken

lakes and rivers

run clean

wild animals 

roam free

 

I feel soft

and powerful all at once

finding that same 

deep sense of mothering 

within my self

as I give birth

to my very soul

I revisit my wildest dreams

retrace my wildest wanderings

I vow to never be tamed again

and I ask forgiveness

for forgetting my own wonderful wildness

for so long

 

I am a child of falling rain and birdsong

I breathe in and breathe out

I will remember

 

I will visit the ruins of cultures past

sit quietly in cliff dwellings 

seek wisdom from the Celtic gods

Ana

Morrigan

Brigid

those who lived in 

harmony with the earth

who danced to her rhythms

and sang her songs

I will listen to nature’s music

once more

 

I am a child of ancient civilisations

I breathe in and breathe out

I will remember

 

I will tend to my bees

in their sacred hive

work in my garden

letting my hands 

dig deep into the soil

memorising

all the plants by heart 

lavender

rosemary

sage

 

I am a child of dirt and divine fragrance

I breathe in and breathe out

I will remember

 

I will hike far

from the city noise

to sit beside the water

and let the breeze

brush my skin

I will bathe in 

the golden light 

of morning sun

and christen

myself in the icy cold

of a mountain stream

 

I am a child of river sun and sand

I breathe in and breathe out

I will remember

 

I will step out of my life for a moment

hang it up 

and air it out

as I walk on the earth 

bare feet bathed in love and dirt

and muse over a Mary Oliver verse 

allowing the soft animal of my body 

to love what it loves

I am the hummingbird 

collecting nectar from beautiful flowers

I am the she wolf matriarch

wisely guiding my pack

I am the dolphin 

trusting my intuition and living in peace

I am the doe

quietly keeping my fawns safe by my side

I am the golden retriever

rolling in the fresh green grass

pure joy and love

I am the butterfly

oozing silken threads of confinement 

knowing who I am 

and where I am going

not looking back 

slowly I move

through sun and wind

rain and song

river and sand

dirt and divine fragrance

ancient civilisations

seldom sleeping 

weaving

weaving

my own 

metamorphosis

I am a child of nature 

I breathe in and breathe out

I will remember