Natural Companions

It is enough to lie in the shadow of green boughs, to listen to the songs of summer, to drink in the sunlight, the air, the flowers, the sky, the beauty of it all.  Or upon the hilltops to watch the white clouds rising over the curved hill-lines, their shadows descending the slopes.  Or on the beach to listen to the sweet sigh as the smooth sea runs up and recedes.  It is lying beside the immortals, in-drawing the life of the ocean, the earth, and the sun.

I want always to be in company with these, with earth, and sun, and sea, and stars by night.  The pettiness of house-life - chairs and tables - and the pettiness of observances, the petty necessity of useless labour, useless because productive of nothing, chafe me the year through. I want to be always in comany with the sun, and sea, and earth.  These, and the stars by night, are my natural companions.

written by Richard Jefferies from 'The Story of My Heart'