I Give Myself to This

Light pools like spilled water on the floor,
Cold air slips like silk beneath the door.
The sky feels like a grey wool cap
Pulled down round my ears, that near.
All the ridge is lined with stands of beech.
At the tops they're swaying quietly.
So elegant and raw without their leaves,
All of these I see.
I catch a memory, a scent, another short glimpse,
Like someone leaned over and gave my forehead a kiss.
I give myself to this.
There's a hidden spring back where it's hard to find.
Someone used it years ago to make moonshine.
This forest has a different sense of time
Than yours or mine.
I catch a memory, a scent, another short glimpse,
Like someone leaned over and gave my forehead a kiss.
I give myself to this.
There's a soil horizon,
Layers beneath the trees.
A sign of outward grace
Unraveling.
One bird sits and sings an aching song.
One turning leaf, ten circles on the pond.
Two careful does wait silently beyond,
Then they're gone, they're gone.
I catch a memory, a scent, another short glimpse,
Like someone leaned over and gave my forehead a kiss.
I give myself to this.