Do you see me coming
around the corner
with noiseless feet.
The wind announces my presence
or shields it,
that the pines might carry on singing
as they’ve always done.
And that I can be here
on the trail,
where no-one has stood for so long,
nor stands now.
Today I told a friend
how to close our eyes is to take ourselves anywhere.
And that thought has taken me
upon a path a million miles from me,
with feet that make so little sound
that nothing moved for my being there.
Nature,
whose heart beats without pause
might have stopped to receive me
as one already welcomed –
but who could say?
Certainly its been enough
to sit
and watch the sunset falling
like burning leaves set alight.
And to hear the sound of the night owl echoing
across the valley.
Did you see me coming,
the sound may be me,
or it might just be the pines
forever singing.
Now that I recall the ease of flight,
I can close my eyes
and open them everywhere else.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
May 2019
‘We do not live on the Earth, we are a part of how the Earth lives.’
-David Richo.
Living Tree Poetry 