When the last tree is cut down, the last fish caught, and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money. — Cree Indians
All scenes above from my Oregon
W hen
in the spring of my life
I called to the wilderness
to the forests
to the rivers
to the lakes
and later
to the mountains
and to the high cliff’d
remote ocean shores
they always answered
they came to know me well
as my friends
they welcomed me eagerly
invigorating my spirit
soothing my mind
warming my soul
they shared their beauty
and their bounty
generously with me
I so love my forests
my mountains
my rivers and lakes
my high cliff’d
ocean shores
I praise their majesty
their power to transform
for my soul
these are my home
the wilderness became
the blood of my life…
top — Oregon Coast
middle — Oregon Sockeye Salmon
bottom — Oregon Black Tail Doe
…but now
in the winter of my days
they no longer
seem to know me
they do not seem
as welcoming
not as welcoming
to wander and roam
to hike
to camp
to fish
to just be
in their embrace
drinking of their energy
awed by their magic
this change of relationdhip
it saddens me greatly
I do not condemn the wild
for it is I
who have spoiled the connection
the deep friendship
that is to say
my age
and failing health
have made me too awkward
too uncomfortable
too infirm and absent
it is definitely I
who changed
but not my love
for the enduring beauty
and profound majesty
of the natural world
I pray human stupidity
human careless arrogance
does not ruin this
amazing miracle
because someday soon
I will return again
carried by my son
he will carry me home
to be forever joined
with this wilderness I love
*
rob kistner © 2023
More poetry at: dVerse
* This is a new style of poetry I created as a derivative of the Contrapuntal style. I call it the VERTICAL POLARPUNTAL style, in which the first half and second half of the poem each deal with the same multiple points of the same subject matter, but the tone reverses from positive to negative – or – negative to positive, yet reads as a single poem.