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Are We as Smart as a Mouse?
Doesn’t Look Like It! (Consideration for Mother Earth Continues)
My thoughts, concerns, and care for Mother Earth aren’t limited to one day, and Robbie Burns’ poem “To a Mouse” captures the essence of Romantic beliefs about the relationship between humanity and the rest of creation.
In the second stanza of “To a Mouse,” the narrator brilliantly observes:
“I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!”
These few lines have been burning in my soul and being during this last week leading up to Earth Day. The spirit of it is in line with my sentiments about our place and relationships as mortals in this realm, and Burns addresses it in his powerful poem. Too bad not many consider this work today.
Burns, a farmer by trade leading up to his publishing fame, had unwittingly ripped through a mouse’s den as he plowed some land. It sparked his observation, a reflection that at once holds the Romantic characteristic of seeing humanity — both collective and individual aspects — mirrored in Nature and…
