Field Notes #7

A Contemplative's Field Guide

The Dam on the Otonashi River at Oji, Utagawa Hiroshige

“No man ever steps in the same river twice,

for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”

-Heraclitus

FIELD NOTES #7

A deer skull, half-buried
	in black mud,
it's forehead blinding white.
In the distance, a doe,
stops to take it in.
I bow, say a prayer,
and bless these parted kin.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

Loose threads shifting in the wind
a sudden snap and all is still—
two brown trout dancing on the deck.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

I traded asphalt for sand
and city blocks for singing birds—
what's the use of words
if trees can never speak.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

I emerge from silence
like a bear from its den.

This bag of skin and bones
is all that's left of winter.

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