Lost
Oct 22 2009


You ease into an all-day pace,
the walking, unconscious
your mind
free to wander.

Time unravels, dissipates,
so only distance remains
— how far from nightfall,
how badly you’re lost,
the world you left well behind.

Grateful this body
which demands so much of you
— needing to be filled,
soft with pain,
the light and sound
entering incessantly —
can disappear
in automaticity,
in the soothing rhythm
of stroke and gait.

You try hard to walk
on uneven ground
every day,
pushing through underbrush
stumbling on roots
black mud, sucking at your heels.
You step away from your body
and look back in wonder
at this steadily breathing shape
warmed by blood,
its ineffable complexity
carrying on by itself.

While you roam far away,
effortlessly ascending
beyond the pull of earth.