Nature doesn’t exist
apart from us, 
and we do not live
apart from nature.
It surrounds us, permeates us.
We are in it, and of it.
We are no less a part of nature than
chattering wrens and howling wolves,
flitting butterflies and buzzing bees,
mountain forests and lakes and raging
rivers and meadows alive with wildflowers.
Squirrels outside a window,
birds at the neighbor’s feeder,
mule deer grazing on a hillside
take what they need to live
while we claim to be wise.
The Smith Compound 