Understory

I walked across the soft forest bed. My feet compressed
the needles and soils and decaying matter. I scarcely made a sound
as I traversed the living ground.

No streams of light highlighting a path, no
glow ahead of me to guide my steps.
The canopy protected me from direct influence.

Myriad sounds approached me — expanding trunks, compressing leaves, branches shaking from the creatures
dancing somewhere unseen.

Deluded to think I was alone. No sentient being was near. My careful mind
wandered gently through time, recounting past decisions,
reflecting on what’s mine.

My lot is my own. My blessings and my sin.
I touched the rough bark, weathered by time and circumstance,
barring the elements from the life force within.

No clear path lay before me.

I still made my way. I glanced behind me to see my history.
I recognized a few recent landmarks — 
the rest awash in mystery.

I knew the gnarled branch that bruised my bone
and threw me to the ground. I saw the enigmatic
mushrooms effuse their vivid tones.

I saw the charred tree, a relic of its former self, sacrificed for us all. These,
among thousands of instances and observations,
remained with me.

Paces later, the canopy thickened along with the air. I knew we
had entered somewhere new. I heard water moving
and sought its company.

A sizeable stream was blocked by sediment
and branches, reducing its flow to a trickle. I hopped over without
dislodging the sluice gate.

Let nature meter its own resources.

The wildflowers around the trees revealed reticent petals. A dozen varieties
grew in unison without visible competition. I sat with them, fondling stems,
bending their heads towards me.

Fatigue overcame me, and the soft floral bed beckoned me to rest.
Long out of water, miles from any exit, without a compass or legend,
I sat and thought over my quest.

Who would know if I didn’t finish? Who could
fault me for laying with perfumed beauties
on a sunny day? Only a charlatan would

dismiss this bounty for an arbitrary goal of finishing.
My self-satisfaction rose as my rationalisation
addressed each errant question.

As I put my head to the ground, I released my obligations.

The earth sapped me of concern.
Bathed in apathetic bliss,
I forgot everything that was,

leaving everything that was to be.
I shifted my leg to foil a piercing twig. The ground, my new home,
was far from neat. The teeming

soil crunched and snapped with the movement
of its inhabitants. Several small legs made their way
across my neck. I leapt

and clawed my face and skin, and swept
my entire body, and cast out all unwelcome creatures.
I scoured any exposed skin and fanned my clothes. My deft

hand searched my body for lingering invaders.
Alerted to my intrusion, I set off.
I am only here for a walk.