The Path

Gnarly trees engtangled by woodbine and thorny blackberries
hide the pathway that should be here, was
here when the woodbine was groundcover
and blackberries followed the way in
a sweet resource on my journey.

Now I've lost my way
lost the path that slides deep into the heart
deep into my being and leads to my heart's desire -- 
this is hard work, this living.

I sink to my knees at the edge of that wild wood
kneel by the blackberries and touch the ground with splayed fingers
hoping my magnetized soul, my free pivoting soul
will point to the cardinal direction
hoping the untended place will unveil the way -- 
This is hard, this longing.

The wild path, rank with undergrowth, confuses my compass-soul
because it knows my choices have lost me my way
choices that allowed many warm rains
to entice the undergrowth over the path
and hid the trysting place like an archeological temple-mound -- 
This is hard, this loving.

So I summon the tools cultivated from a lived life
tools of patience and silence, to clear the serpentine path
and each time I feel the gravitational pull, each time the way is revealed
I know that clearing is part of the work
and I will step onto the smooth, muscular path many times,
only to have it slither underfoot to entice the groundcover over
like an ancient temple succumbing to time.
Then I must relax into patience and silence
to find my way again -- 
This is hard, this is hope.

Because I know, yes I know
deep in the tangled mass of gnarled trees
lies an old stone dwelling. Moss of many warm
rains blends it into the undergrowth
but when I find it again, when I knock on the door
this time I will know what to say when asked,
who is there?

Every Valley Shall Be Exalted

Stop! Stop the car!

I stepped out, wrapped my coat against the evening wind
and looked at the distant, wide lake in the midst of a wild valley bed
and the mountain range on my left laid its long arm along side
dangling rocky fingers in the distant ocean

a frog in the lake backed into soft silt
'til only his eye remained to watch the snake swim by
a turtle drifted still and lazy on the surface
but snapped up a foolish fly that crawled down the rushes
and a dragonfly glinted on long tendril leaves of cat tails
while a rabbit nipped the heels of her slowest kit
as the family loped home under the shelter of the heath
and the fox's nose twitched and then raised its face to the sky
and a caribou lifted its antlered head chewing with slow circular motions
gazing across the bushes, up to the sky
and the tawny cougar watched and cleaned its paw in the gleaming

The trees rose out of the bushes
crowding together like women at the well
they crowd closer and closer
'til they cover the hills
like an evening promenade in an ancient village piazza
lift and lower their branches to the darkening sky
as the light shifts to purple
the mountain range, its monstrous left arm
embracing the valley, reaching down toward the ocean
rests its wrist at sand's edge
and dangles its rocky fingers in the sily enormity of salt water
and the moonlight

the just rising moon shone long like a flashlight on the great water
and I followed the light up to the infinite sky
the infinite mystery, and like an arrow
the archer shot me back home, back
into heart and lung and I gasped
in tears I gasped
wrapped my arms around the tiny being that I am
then raised them in salutation to the day
the milky way, the black planet.
Raised them in salutation to infinite intertwining existence.