S6 E10: Walking in Nature with Myra Viola Wilds

Welcome to Rebecca’s Reading Room. I’m Rebecca Budd, and this is a quiet moment from Rebecca’s Reading Room.

A poem has a way of returning to us. Not always when we expect it, and never in quite the same way.

Several years ago, I recorded this poem by Myra Viola Wilds while walking along a forest path. Recently, it found its way back to me—and I began to hear it differently.

Wilds wrote these words after losing her eyesight, following years of work as a dressmaker. And yet, what she offers us is not loss, but clarity—a reminder that our thoughts are something we can shape, tend, and carry with care.

If you are able, you might imagine yourself walking…

or simply pause for a moment. And listen.

Thoughts

What kind of thoughts now, do you carry

In your travels day by day

Are they bright and lofty visions,

Or neglected, gone astray?

Matters not how great in fancy,

Or what deeds of skill you’ve wrought;

Man, though high may be his station,

Is no better than his thoughts.

Catch your thoughts and hold them tightly,

Let each one an honor be;

Purge them, scourge them, burnish brightly,

Then in love set each one free.

This poem is in the public domain.

Rebecca

Music by Johannes Bornlöf “As I Dream” #EpidemicSound

https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/4cUBo6wPFR/