Woodnotes

Alone and unafraid,
I wander through the woods, Suspended in emerald life–
My thoughts a brisk walking,
Stirring in the flowing forms
Of ferns and trees unfolding,
Resonant with wrapt stillness.

Soft whispers of the leaves,
The pine’s strong collar,
The rhythm of the wilderness calls my name. Gentle leaps of laughter in the gnarled boughs,
In the weave of vines that twist stars overhead;
And here, not only am I,
But the ancient and tender— Its rhythm holds us swaying,
An entrancing interval of peace.

• Ralph Waldo Emerson