Camping (Notevember 2022, #28)

Oh, the light!
Do you see? Do you see?
I’m so glad you brought me along
I hear blackbirds
I see orioles
They know the winds by name
Singing them out
I know the winds, too
A caress from the south
And from the north, a chill
That makes us huddle close at night
Until we wake with the light

You let me walk beside the life of deceit
Run through destroying angels and foxgloves
Trampling moss piglets underfoot, I tell you
Hemlocks tall as giants and hemlocks in lace
Lashing my legs and hands and face
Little apples with berries on, waiting for the cleansing fire
A flurry of fins in the cold mountain creek
And copious fungal filaments playing hide and seek
This one a symbiote, that one a saprophyte
All bathed in the light

I go home laden heavier than I left
Souvenirs aplenty
I have a pine cone with bristles
It’s a little animal, sleeping, don’t you see?
I have a river-smooth rock, quiet with secrets
It has told me, but I won’t tell you
(You don’t seem to mind, you praise my loyalty)
I have a sore back, sore feet, sore for mile after mile
Cuts and bruises and a ceaseless smile
I lost my best scrunchie
And just gained my twenty-seventh mosquito bite
But it’s all worth it, just for the light
Oh, delight! Oh, the light!