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