A Race Against the Rest of the Sun

Umstead State Park, North Carolina

I walk a blue trail in the evening

Those blue trails again

But this time,

I’m hundreds of miles away

In a strange but beautiful forest

With no Wood Thrush

To guide my way

When I turn a corner,

The forest falls

Suddenly silent

The ever-present din of highway traffic

That I had tuned out a mile ago

Just

Disappears

And now I’m left with the chirp of crickets

The crash of acorns through the trees

And then onto the ground below

Soft, golden sunlight

That trickles in between the trees above a nearby hill

Ferns erupt from the ground

A volcano in their verdancy

The forest opens up

Its quiet underbelly

And I struggle to take it all in

The trail twists and winds

Down a pleasant hill

Past gray pine cones

And the whitest mushrooms

The light is blinding in small spots

And completely missing in others

Stripes of near sunset coat the trail

Of crushed quartz

I turn another corner

And it’s dark again

The cutest squeak

Followed by the funniest plop

Into the water

A frog

I think

And the smell

This scent

The rich perfume of this new earth

Sweet and fragrant

Like spicy pine needles

A heady scent of earth and wood

Will I one day grow numb to its beauty?

I make the difficult choice

To turn around

And walk back through

This wild wonderland

A race against

The rest of the sun

This time,

The frog does not yell at me

The scent of the forest is already around me

And the stripes of sunlight no longer need to light my way

For I am already here

All these wonderful gifts

Just for me

I showed my gratitude when I arrived

With a greeting and some water

And it continues

It thrives and it pulsates

In these words

This song

The worries of my day

Melt away

They root themselves

Black tendrils from my feet twist

Into the ground below

Lovingly accepted

And transmuted

By this wonderful earth