April is National Poetry Month! Follow along on our Stories of Mercy blog and enjoy poems from Mercy students on the theme “Love of the Natural World.”
Branches of Forgiveness
By Abigail Epstein, student at Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women, Rochester, New York
It seems too painless to hold on to pain so freely.
To allow Bitterness and Resentment to take control;
To let them hold the reins of our lives with such precise orders.
Forgiveness is perhaps the most strenuous objective we seek,
The clearest ambiguity of life.
Why take the shortcomings of another, and use them to better ourselves?
An odd concept, yet one so easily answered,
If one simply observes the trees.
It is no wonder that trees are so often used to promote wisdom—
The Tree of Life, The Tree of Knowledge.
But, to look at archetypes and old tales is to look too deep;
We must only look at their most basic sustenance.
How curious that these jewels of nature function from what a human releases;
The very wasted air that we emit,
The trees gorge themselves in for life itself.
In precisely the same way,
We, as humans, gasp for the rich air that the trees give us.
While so scientific,
This exchange of waste,
Or of the Elixir of Life, depending on how one sees it,
Is so extremely instructive.
The trees teach the value of using the noxious waste of another,
And turning it into something worthy of our own lives.
And so, forgiveness is the same.
A principle bestowed in us by you,
We must learn that forgiveness is as much for the forgiven,
As it is for the forgiver;
That it is part of our calling to make amends with all of the external issues in our world,
But also within ourselves.
Steady flower steady flower
By Helena Cornwell, student at Mercymount Country Day School, Cumberland, Rhode Island
Steady flower steady flower
Sways in the cool breeze
But it never shakes her leaves
Never wilts or dares to tease
Never afraid to show her petals
Makes me grow in so many levels
Steady flower steady flower
Help me sway just like you
Gorgeous flower gorgeous flower
Gets more beautiful by the hour
Glows in the sun just like her smile
Personality so vibrant just like her petals
Rain can’t fade her vibrant shade
Never seems to blossom late
Blooming flower blooming flower
Help me glow just like you
Blooming flower blooming flower
Strong and grounded just like her stem
Protects her buds at any cost
Petals so still and never lost
Even in the thundering puff
Feet so powerful but yet so soft
Blooming flower blooming flower
Help me dance just like you