Pathwalking

Pathwalking


Life in the woods
scared and hungry, tree lizards - and snakes
coiled fear serpents
they quickly groundslither away
A feeling stirs me to remember:
Beings - my cousins! Be yourselves only
I come in peace with eyes only to illuminate
this forest realm of myth
Songleaves chant for sunmade wind,
today they pray - bathe us! they scream
in pain of their feeling life
soon to die as always, return to soil
and sleep
Path - to travel through wilderness
birds, high in sky, sing, fly
I will pray them, for they have risen
Onwards, pathwalking as humans will
eyes borning, unwinding with blooming vision
changing faces as eons roll-slow
learning all as I can, by being, feeling, and watching

JMJ/ Appalachicola National Forest, 2/20/85