Wild Peace

I am grateful, 

so grateful, 

for my life, 

I am a raw human who knows how to be whole,

I am a curly-haired child walking over piedmont hills, 

brushing against rounded white oak lobes, 

by myself, but not alone.

Captivated by buttressed trunks and carpeted ravines, 

traversing the slippery bark balance of fallen logs, 

imagining the living space among rooted brown earth 

and light floating leaves falling at my feet

I will always be there, 

exploring creek edges and following fence-lines, 

crunching and climbing to find the sheltered natural 

rooms 

framed by branches and 

stone where I could 

b e h o l d 

the dancing beings of cedar, 

the towering reach of oak and beech 

cycles of green to copper leaves 

that shape the vessel of my soul-

I finally know how I am to live- 

to fill my soul with awe, 

to live in wild peace.

Ross L. Andrews