For Thor - 47 - Nature's Cradle

Bittersweet. Again. Still. Always.

A sun-dappled trail leading into the greenwood beckons me.

Footfalls crush quietly into the echoes of last year's leaves,

A decaying contrast to the hopeful love songs

That fill the canopy above my head.

Toadstools tip their canty caps as I stroll past

A silent salute to life that arises from the dead.

A butterfly lightly kisses their spotted crowns with tiny feet,

And fans them with a kaleidoscopic breeze.

A delicate fern unfurls her tentative fronds

To taste the golden honeyed sun.

Her feet are rooted in a thousand seasons

Of earth's turning.

Life and death are one. It is plain, here in nature's cradle.

I recall a summer so long ago.

When you were small.

And innocent.

And alive with a spark of the primordial stars

that tethered you in the heavens.

Your star-child laughter filled the wood with a song called,

Youthful Jubilance!

And you let loose the rhythmic dance of one who

Is free to kiss the sky and sing with the eagles

In a clear stream, you splashed diamond drops of pure joy

That fell like crystals upon on the

Soft, dark earth.

Fresh water runs over rock,

Cajoling jagged edges,

Smoothing them with a patience that

Lives in eternity.

Bedecked in moss, the stone gives way

To that persistent flow.

An intrepid little creek, so very like the

Essence of my heart,

Pouring forth.

Where you dance still

With wild abandon. Perfect in love.

I cannot kiss your face, my love.

I cannot hold your hand.

I cannot see your eyes, my dear.

Nor hear you sing so grand.

I cannot whisper jokes to you,

And dance with you so spry.

For you have gone to earth, my love,

And left me here to cry.

Nature is where you reside, my love,

You're cloaked in leaf and loam

Here, in the wildwood

You are the hawk that soars so high,

You are the deer that roams.

I have only to lift my eyes to see

That the sun shines brightly, still.

You warmly kiss away my tears

And hug me in the wind.

The sun-dappled trail beckons me, Thor

To come, open my eyes and see

The beauty of the greenwood

And the love you have for me. 

I love you, 

Mom