Poetry time! A reflection on our recent move, from a wild farm to a tamer one a few miles away.
I’ve left a world behind me
Like so many before
But this one
Was a world my heart loved
A world
That shone joy onto my face
That breathed peace into my lungs.
I haven’t gone far
But I’ve gone far enough
Far enough that I may never again
See that driveway stretch before me
Or hear coyotes in the night
May never
Kiss maples,
Hug cedars
Walk in a thistled field as dusk falls
Or see a hawk take flight from the treeline.
And that’s all right,
Because those things
Will always live in me
In whatever world I am.
And this new world,
Almost the country,
Almost a farm,
Almost breathing peace,
May soon teach me how to love it as well.
But for now,
I still tingle with the memory
Of the last time I stood
In that farmhouse
Standing in my office
A room that for so long was my world:
Boxes behind me,
Mess all around,
And before me,
Cedars and sunlight.
If only I had stepped more often
From laptop and clutter
Onto that home soil!
Oh, what sightings of deer,
Meetings with pheasants,
Conversations with coyote
Have I missed?
And now I have left that world behind.
And that’s all right.
This world is good.
I only hope that other world knows
How much I love it still.
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