A walk in the forest — Clelia Vahni Lewis

I walk in the forest, misty and wet

A million hues of green and brown

The soil rich and soft, utter bounty

It’s more wealth than I can fathom

So I walk in humble awe, stopping

Now and then to smell its fragrant musk

Not even trying to understand or name

The numberless joys it offers without restraint

My god, the beauty!

My dog takes her time sniffing at invisible messages

So I kneel to take a closer look at the variegated shapes

In a patch of moss—like a blanket kindly placed on the floor

Upon which any creature can stop and rest

And the leaves of this one are a longer shag

I run my fingers over and through them

Tingling in the sensuous reverberation of their living

And even though a few steps away is a disintegrating

Pile of discarded clothes

Likely left by a troubled or homeless soul

I imagine lost in stormy dreams, escaping

Or trying to, the tangle of their mortal coil

Still, the whole of it lifts me in bittersweet

Vivification, loss itself the loving old mother

Of more life, more beauty—this mess

Shot through with vibrations, thrilling

The cells, the blood, the bone

And one day I know I am invited

To lay myself down in this holy ground

And join the dance again, and again

Each time learning new notes

In the song of love