Tuesday, September 23, 2014

What I hear

In the quickening twilight that gilds the lake 
water, the trail curves along the shore, 
my old lab toddling in my shade, 
I sleepwalking for a time and then
consciousness snaps its fingers 
and the plainsong of crickets thrums 
against my ear bone,  
against each blade of mustard grass, 
each dark bending Manzanita.
An ancient music made with teeth 
on wings opening and closing 
like sails, the same preening concert 
that pierced the ears of
old tyrannosaurs
as they bedded down 
for the night.  





As if...

A morning walk on the shoulders 
of Lake Chabot toward the creek,
the young redwoods and the old oaks 
and the tall tender pines 
as if for the first time 
and as if for the first time
I circle the large trunks, 
roots tangled like boas,
stare at them and they stare back 
as if mutual understanding could 
be possible by looking and waiting. 
On this warm morning, I wear sandals. 
On cooler days my lace-ups get their turn. 
My old dog greets both with wild shaking 
of her bushy tail and in the woods she sniffs 
as if never before, as if never again.
There is the scent of freshly washed bark 
and the fragrance of something brand new 
as if these trees had been pulled up by their
crowns through the muck and moss
in the deep of night.  Oh, but what is 
that strange sound beyond the creek?
A creature, yes, honking in pain.
I look to my breath, to the scent of oak,  
to the flavor of pine, to the sweet perfume
of life which I may never understand, must love
without armor, without holding back
as if never before and never again.