Scottish - Writer | March 19, 1955 -
Anyone who has ever stopped to watch a hawk in flight will know that this is one of the natural world's most elegant phenomena.
John Burnside
WorldFlightKnowWillElegantHawk
Sometimes, when the wind hits hard and icicles form on the sea cliffs, we can all come together - and at those times, we are at our best.
SeaBestTogetherWindSometimes
It is common knowledge now that we depend on insects for our continued existence; that, without key pollinators, the human population would collapse in less than a decade.
KnowledgeKeyNowHumanDepend
The woods were a boon; all too often, the forest offered danger and mystery. Yet it could be liberating. If you entered that wild place on its own terms, you might be accorded wisdom.
WisdomWoodsForestMysteryYouOwn
There is a red sandy beach in the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia that is unlike any other shore landscape I have ever seen. The world's highest tides wash its shores, and the soft cliffs of Blomidon Provincial Park are constantly crumbling away; whole trees will occasionally slide down to the sea to decay slowly in the wind and brine.
SeaBeachRedWindWorldTrees
In many traditions, hawks are sacred: Apollo's messengers for the Greeks, sun symbols for the ancient Egyptians and, in the case of the Lakota Sioux, embodiments of clear vision, speed and single-minded dedication.
VisionDedicationSunSpeedClear
It takes a true encounter to realise that real animals, wild animals, have all but passed from our lives.
AnimalsTrueWildRealEncounter
I don't want to suggest that matrimony was necessarily a tragic affair - some of our neighbours' marriages seemed quite functional, if somewhat routine; nevertheless, in the workaday world, it is wedlock that is most likely to offer the occasion for life-threatening disappointment.
DisappointmentWorldRoutineWant
A modern arboretum brings us that ancient forest and, with it, a changed apprehension of time, a renewed appreciation of the elegance of natural form and a renewed sense of wonder at the variety of the world we inhabit.
TimeAppreciationWorldElegance
Given the right information to help them decide, people will opt for conditions that benefit our creaturely neighbours, even where they have no particular interest in larks or cuckoo wasps - because those conditions benefit us.
PeopleHelpInformationWillRight
For 10 years, I gave away my possessions every year and moved on to a new place.
YearPlaceNewPossessionsYears
It's important to have quiet time and isolation.
TimeIsolationQuietImportant
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