a poem

Aliveness springing forth
in one form or another:
 a seed falls
  a leaf quietens
   a woodpecker drums
    shadows play on bushes
     sun slashes down a tree
      wind hums through the hemlocks
       lichen forms petroglyphs on rocks
        matter decays and re-emerges in new form
life expressing itself all over the place
        in a tactile world witnessing
          its own being

sounds rifting through the stilliness,
leaves choreographed by the wind
while insects orchestrate the beat:
near sounds and far sounds gather
into an echo system all its own

   beneficent and deep-rooted
   mysterious and known
the spirit of the forest in playing its tune.



by Elizabeth M. Cheatham