River, be their teacher,
that together they may turn
their future highs and lows
into one hopeful flow

Two opposite shores
feeding from a single source.
Mountain, be their milestone,
that hand in hand they rise above
familiarity’s worn tracks
into horizons of their own
Two separate footpaths
dreaming of a common peak.

Birdsong, be their mantra,
that down the frail aisles of their days,
their twilight hearts twitter morning
and their dreams prove branch enough.

In John Agard’s ‘Nuptials’, he looks to nature as a source of inspiration for a long, successful marriage. He hopes the couple can learn from rivers, mountains and birdsong. “River, be their teacher”, “Mountain, be their milestone”, “Birdsong, be their mantra”.

He urges them to keep their relationship fresh “hand in hand they rise above/familiarity’s worn tracks”, and take the good times with the bad times “together they may turn/their future highs and lows/into one hopeful flow.”

This idea of taking the good with the bad and coming out the other side is also shared by Denny Bradbury in her work for a wedding ‘Holding Hands!’. She writes that “The golden days and cloudy ones will merge as if one!”.

She also uses nature to advise the bride and groom, saying that “Life is made of rock as well as sand!” She urges the couple to look to the future with excitement, “Dance into your future with delight!”.

Both Agard and Bradbury hope that love will conquer all, with Agard writing “down the frail aisles of their days,/their twilight hearts twitter morning/and their dreams prove branch enough.” and Bradbury advising “Dark shadows may be lurking that may even seem to move!/But they will disappear as long as you know how to love!”

Denny Bradbury – Holding Hands!

Walk into the future holding hands!
Life is made of rock as well as sand!
No looking back except to glance and learn from where you come!
No staring at what might have been across what’s past and done!
Walk into the future holding hands!

Dance into your future with delight!
See only what is positive and right!
Dark shadows may be lurking that may even seem to move!
But they will disappear as long as you know how to love!
Dance into your future with delight!

Sing into your future let your song!
Be wonderful harmonious and long!
The golden days and cloudy ones will merge as if as one!
Highlight all the happy times let rain bring on the sun!
Sing into your future let your song!
Be wonderful harmonious and long!

Gardens are also good places
to sulk. You pass beds of
spiky voodoo lilies
and trip over the roots
of a sweet gum tree,
in search of medieval
plants whose leaves,
when they drop off
turn into birds
if they fall on land,
and colored carp if they
plop into water.

Suddenly the archetypal
human desire for peace
with every other species
wells up in you. The lion
and the lamb cuddling up.
The snake and the snail, kissing.
Even the prick of the thistle,
queen of the weeds, revives
your secret belief
in perpetual spring,
your faith that for every hurt
there is a leaf to cure it.

For Gerstler, being with nature gives a calming affect to humankind, letting stresses and strains go away: “the archetypal human desire for peace/with every other species wells up in you.”

She talks in In Perpetual Spring of how spring brings the idea of peace, and hope. It’s time for a new start, a fresh start, a hopeful start: “your secret belief/in perpetual spring,/your faith that for every hurt/there is a leaf to cure it.”

The freshness of spring and new life also gives hope that unlikely friendships could form, that even the most fearsome predator can be tamed. “The lion/and the lamb cuddling up./The snake and the snail, kissing.”

Yet this idea of Spring bringing peace and love isn’t shared by Denny Bradbury. In March Spring, she shows that it can be a letdown, “bumblebees awaken now to stumble out their food to find from early stems/of nectar sweet that disappoint and so too cold to fly they fall on path awhile”.

She tells of how humankind “watch and interfere” with nature’s cycle, rather than sitting back and appreciating it and letting us have hope as in Gerstler’s In Perpetual Spring. Instead of interfering, we should “learn that we’re here by chance/so let the world still turn in time”.

Spring is not so awesome now late flowering of an ageing soul
flowers bloom and sway and stay away from winds that blow too soon
too rough and with uncommon gusts send buds into defensive mood
leaves know not whether they should come and hang their pretty green
or keep within their safe cocoon till March to April warmth gives way

Birds build their nests as ever seen with twigs and grasses softly strewn
in branches not yet swathed in clothes that mean to hide their eggs by day
bumblebees awaken now to stumble out their food to find from early stems
of nectar sweet that disappoint and so too cold to fly they fall on path awhile
to gather sun which warms their wings so they can soar once more to sup
and gather all this instant cup of cheer and so back to nest and eggs to lay

this cycle round and round it goes and we just watch and interfere where
nature needs no help from those who ruin all by base degrees of selfish
harm when all we need to do is tread with lighter step upon the head
of this blue planet so designed to swirl through space as undefined
by human souls as it should be and we learn that we’re here by chance
so let the world still turn in time while we live on in humble rhyme