Lost

The following poem is based on a native American story. I turn to its lines in both darkness and light with equal effect - an inner turning to a larger field than I can think - "stand still."

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

~ David Wagoner ~

Holy Longing

"I would like to step out of my heart

and go walking beneath the enormous sky.

I would like to pray."

From the poem Lament by Ranier Maria Rilke