My heart finds shelter in the woods, in corners smoothed by silence. We circle time and splash quietly through the undergrowth— it reveals a temple of roots and limbs that bridge the moments.

Midday light’s fingertips, sprawling— a stretch of sunshine filtering, gathering warmth under canopies, we ask the flower’s means beneath the busy hum of bees, each drop of nectar earned.

The earth embraces fears, unveiling a beat of laughter unspooled, gathering with each step through a waltz of fluttering wings, gathered against the tender strokes of winding vines across our feet.

• Muriel Rukeyser