The Appalachian Adventure

This is happening. After 10 years of planning and dreaming I am finally heading out on the trail with my hiking buddy Chuck to have fun and figure a few things out. Please join me starting February 29. In the meantime, here is a poem by David Wagoner that I love.

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 
(1999)