orange

orange twilight
    glows over the waters
    fir silouettes stretch
    across the horizon
    along the island mountains beyond

beyond metaphor
beyond story
beyond discontent

the shaded path meanders
    mile after mile
the silent and persistent
    life of the forest
        moss and fern and wood
transcends
    scientific explanations
    the seeking of poems
    the need for exercise
    the hunger for epiphany

up the mountain
    a spray of young alder
    paper birch
    hemlock
    spruce
stand playing in the wind
    in a secret glade
    a huge fallen redcedar
    hosts explosions of moss and lichen and fern

silence and life and ancient secret
    brood over this place
    simplicity and wildness and beauty
        fragrance the air itself
    quietness quenches my mind

A gunshot shatters the stillness
    and I remember
below
    the call of the civilized
        demands and chores and bills and worries
        contentions and conflict
        entertainment and snacks
    other distractions
        unaware of this poetry so near
        demand my presence my joy

I linger then turn back
    carrying unspoken secrets
    simple plotless stories
    of quiet fragile enduring life.