ME

I see the sights before me

Of a California forest

Captured in this moment

Stolen coyly out of time

 

I see and feel

And taste and smell

Senses newly sharpened now

From many days inside

 

I know each one,

I listed them

Collected sense impressions

Now put them all together again

 

The time I spent is more

Than just collected observations

Each recorded in a list

the sum of them much greater

Than the individual parts

 

There is a sort of timelessness;

This could be any year

The only difference is

Today, that I am here

But was it like this yesteryear?

 

Is this almost pristine valley

In its natural estate

Completed by my presence

Or am I just coincidence

That came along by chance?

 

Whatever I am doing here

I know I’ll soon be gone

But the forest will continue

Even after I depart.

 

Puts me in my place

To know that it is so

But have I just by being here

Left my mark upon the land?

 

Is it slightly changed

Just because I came to know

For however brief a moment

The spirit of this place?

RESPONSE

Whatever you are doing here,

You accountant from he town

You know you can’t survive

Without the trappings of your age

 

Your ecologic niche is gone

You only can disrupt,

Intrude upon the creature-life

Around your cabin walls

The best that we can hope for

Is a temporary compromise

Understand the presence

In the ethos of this place

 

Be gentle where you walk

With reverential awe

And child like excitement

Find the treasures I have hid

 

So you snatch a special moment

Stolen coyly out of time

Then you freeze it in a frame

So you have the memory

Of your very special day

 

But recognize I’m ordinary

Not miraculous calendar photo

For a trophy on your wall

And I have always been this way

 

Remember if you can

That, if your observations

Do not happen every day

Then they’re not really there at all