Nature: Our Teacher
by Eva Huffaker
The wilderness is our classroom
and nature is our teacher.
If you listen close enough,
the wind will whisper what she’s seen to you
as she billows through the trees.
If you are quiet enough,
the black capped chickadees, the downy woodpeckers, and the blue-jays
share the secrets they’ve kept.
If you look close enough,
the tracks will lead you to who has been there.
If you are calm enough,
the still water seduces you to its shores,
to show you the millions of organisms that call it home.
If you are curious enough,
the balsam firs wait,
releasing oxygen from underneath its needles for you.
Nature did not
teach me the pythagorean theorem
or the grammatical components of a sentence.
But nature will
teach me the lessons no human could ever impress upon me.
Eva Huffaker, age 16, wrote this poem while studying at Conserve School in Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin.