Lost and Found - David Wagoner

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 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
Original title: "Lost"

1999

~

Photo - Mt. Rainier Forest
Fred LaMotte