These days I need the woods. I need to steal away from everyday pressures and quagmires to wander and wonder within creation. While I cannot quite wholly explain why this feels so natural and important, I am coming to appreciate that experiences in nature restore my perspective. In the woods I encounter touchstones, signs of what is true and genuine that teach me how to remember and recognize the presence of the divine elsewhere.

On the far edge of winter

a frozen lake quakes and groans

as a warm sunrise hints at Spring.

There is a beauty to these woods

that surpasses even the twilight

sound of the Great Horned Owl

or the crescent moon spilling stars

onto cedar tops and pines.