A Flower and Poem

This awesome flower is growing outside my house. It made me think of my favorite poem by a Tongan writer. I have this poem taped on my front door. It reminds me that the people I work with here may see the world differently than I do.

you say that you think

therefore you are

but thinking belongs

in the depths of the earth

we simply borrow

what we need to know

these islands the sky

the surrounding sea

the trees the birds

and all that are free

the misty rain

the surging river

pools by the blowholes

a hidden flower

have their own thinking

they are different frames

of mind that cannot fit

in a small selfish world

-Konai Helu Thaman