A little thump my foot landeath there, upon crackling foliage November bare
Done the days of reckless care simpler treasures near, quiet listening ear
Cleaner air and a softer stare by the creek bed and the hill
Mountain dare do I go, I go up there
Ask not for days in spring and tall tales
Winds five months more solemn and fair
Never have I wandered so far into the snow blankets
I’m an ice sheet drifting until sleeping like a slumbered bear
Smoky breath, crystal lungs, I don’t know if my body will move
Moon shadows cross open night beds, watercolor stars of sky white and black
Makes me wonder how and where and what is back alone, further out there
Far beyond the long dark dawn, after all else has dropped out of the mind
Truer than I know to be, by the bee, by the bird, by the tree
Captive, long are the weeks I am here forest deep
Clear day clear night, see the sea out off the ridge
Waves silently crash below, I imagine the sound
The world of white pine and green now I stand
under rustling brown leaf sing the insect tune again
billions and billions an endless abyss, always here.
Little earth little people in a big painted picture rotating
It keeps turning, going up the mountain and down again
Kate Lunsford 