UNESCO first adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression.

As poetry’s such a powerful way of communicating mindfulness themes and attitudes, we’re delighted to share a selection of our teachers’ favourites, which often feature in our Live Online Meditation Sessions. We hope these pieces inspire you too.

Rima’s choice: Wendell Berry’s

The Peace of Wild Things 

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Rima Saad Hochreiter: ‘Here’s one I really love, because it’s a reminder of the choices available to us when we experience worrying and anxious thoughts, and how connecting back to our direct experience (especially in nature) is remarkably healing!’

Katia’s choice: Siddharth Kumar Mehta’s

I’m busy

I’m busy;
but not in the way
most people accept.
I’m busy calming my fear
and finding my courage.
I’m busy listening to my kids.
I’m busy getting in touch
with what is real.
I’m busy growing things and
connecting with the natural world.
I’m busy questioning my answers.
I’m busy being present in my life.

Katia Wellausen Picada: ‘This poem is about doing something different, being curious about how I spend my time, and really reflect on the things that are worth being busy with.’

Katia’s choice: Author Unknown

Everything is possible

Don’t get upset with people or situations,
because both are powerless without your reaction.
You will be amazed at how things magically fall into place
once you let go of the illusion of control.
A lot of the pain we deal with are really only thoughts.
It takes courage to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery
rather than choose the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.
The inspiration you seek is already within you, be silent and listen.
Because you are alive, everything is possible.

Katia Wellausen Picada: ‘This poem seems so true to me. And at the same time I forget about it. It really gives strength to continue the self-discovery journey I embarked on.’ 

Wei’s choice: C. P. Cavafy’s

Ithaka

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Wei Zhao: This poem gave me much consolation and encouragement when I was struggling with my dissertation and work, amidst the sense of being stranded and lost during the pandemic. I remember whispering to myself “Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn’t have set out.” In moments of self-doubt and anxiety, the poem made it possible for me to see that the journey is as important as the destination.

Susie’s choice: Tony Hoagland’s

The Word

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”
and “broccoli,” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful. It touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent from someplace distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing

that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue,

but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile,
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them
who can find the time
to sit out in the sun and listen.

Susie Stead: I love this poem because it feels like a gift of sunlight, so gently offered.  Someone is lovingly catching me out, giving me permission to let a burden down and receive something beautiful.  When I read it, my body physically relaxes and something eases inside me. 

Shiv’s choice: Perr Norrgren’s

The Quiet Knowing

There is a quiet voice,
soft as morning mist over fields,
that knows your worth
like the roots of trees know the earth,
invisible but steady, holding on.

In the press of day, amidst the noise
of tasks, the hum of names and titles,
that voice speaks not in volume
but in presence, reminding you
you are not only what you do
but the one who brings
all that you are, tender and whole,
to each small moment.

You have shaped the ground you stand upon,
your footsteps leaving traces
of strength, of care, of seeing.
No title can capture
the way you lean in to listen,
the way you lift your head in laughter,
the way you honour another’s voice
with your own silence.

Remember, you do not owe your worth
to any moment’s outcome—
not to applause or to silence,
not to what is unfinished
or what is well done.
You are already
the gift given.

Here, in the knowing of your own heart,
in the gentleness that touches
each word, each breath,
in the soft gathering of yourself
when the day is done,
there is a strength that is yours,
unchanging and true,
as steady as the roots
that anchor the trees,
invisible but present,
holding on, holding you.

Shiv Chawla: The Quiet Knowing, by Per Norrgren resonates deeply with me because it reminds us that our worth is not tied to external achievements or validation. Your mere presence in the world is a ‘gift’ enough! You are enough. I often share it with my participants to help them embrace their unique sense of self and accompanying moment-by-moment experience, from a place of deeper self-compassion, non-judgment and gratitude.

Zeynep’s choice: Karen Maezen Miller’s

Who turns?

Who turns this into that?
Sound into noise?
Aroma into odor?
Taste into pleasure or disgust?
Who turns yes into no?
Grace into disgrace?
Who turns the present into the past?
Who turns the now into the not-now?
As-it-is into as-it-should-be?
Silence into restlessness?
Stillness into boredom?
The ordinary into the menial?
Who turns pain into suffering?
Change into loss?
Grief into woe?
Woe into the story of your life?
Who turns stuff into sentiment?
Desire into craving?
Acceptance into aversion?
Peace into war?
Us into them?
Who turns life into labor?
Time into toil?
Enough into not-enough?
Who turns why into why not?
Who turns delusion into enlightenment?
Who thinks?
Who turns?

All practice is the practice of making a turn in a different direction.

Zeynep Akdoğan: This poem resonates deeply with me because it serves as a reminder of how our interpretations shape each moment of our experience. It highlights the power of choice, showing that, in any given moment, we have the ability to turn in a different direction—shifting our perspective and transforming our relationship with what arises.