- Wilderness Alive -

By John Herlihy

A voyageur sighed, then settled down for the night.

For all the silence, the wilderness was alive.

Random sound interrupted the calm with edge.

Water sounds from brooks and streams symphonic,

Surrounded by the majesty of mountain peaks,

A river runs through always finding what it seeks.

Insects now departed and the birds had taken flight,

Only leaves rustled in the wind as campfires snapped.

The moon when it rises, shone through in the trees,

Golden and bulbous, as though dipped in whiskey.

Providing little light and no promise in the chill night,

The sun rises in the morning with some flair and promise.

The union of night and day held steady for thousands of years,

Always accompanied by a stealthy fog to heighten the silence.

Both sun and moon stride in mock procession thru the sky.

On starry nights, the earth’s face slept in peaceful repose.

Overhead, celestial fires burned the glow of aurora borealis,

Shimmering in streams orange and red in starlit heavens,

In the darkness and with a gentle wind stirring the trees.

Amid it all, a sense of presence, watching, whispering.

In the wilderness, one can only surrender and listen to the night.

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(c) John Herlihy 28 January 2019