I want to walk
among the natural beings
that live in the world
beyond the tight web
of houses, and buildings
and shops and bars.
I want to walk out
and feel alone but not alone,
feel the breeze and see the
ripple of water as the swans
glide by searching ever
but still content in
their marshy water homeland.
I want to walk and saunter
out in the thickness of nature
and be a body sensing
and opening out,
when all I have been
taught is to close
and be confined in
the ropes of civilisation,
and the rectangles of home.
I shall walk and walk,
till my body is done
but my soul is alive,
and see the ant
moving in its order,
and the birds dropping
in to look and feed,
and glide amongst
the trees that sit
as Buddhas in
the still calm
of the languid day.
I want to walk,
for in walking
I shall lose
and find myself.
For Henry David Thoreau
9/11/2016