I Follow Pathways
By John Herlihy

I
I follow pathways into Nature
I seek in earnest Nature’s very heart
I want to feel it beating deep within me
A heart deep in the cave of my own heart
My heart beating with the heart of nature
Two hearts beating as one.

II
I climb mountains
Their challenge carved in their height
Their blessing lies in the vast panorama
God’s earth spread out at its feet as a glorious sight
I finally reach the mountain peak on high
To gaze upon the landscape as a patchwork quilt below
Captured within the eye as the vision of a crow.

III
I follow rivers
I follow their silvery light
Through every imaginable terrain
They go where their heart desires
I follow their roaming currents
That yearn for the deep blue sea
I follow their limitless miles
As they sculpt canyons with persistence
They write script into the earth across vast distance.

IV
I search the heavens
Looking for more than the night
I search across the darkness of the heavens
Looking for more than twinkling stars
Even the Milky Way loses its luster
When viewed from the back side of Mars
It’s the sun door I seek to discover
An open door leading into the land of avatars.

V
Give me a star to look into its heart
Give me river’s end that flows into a vast sea
Give me the blue of Heaven pierced by a mountain peak
Is there anything else that a person should seek?
They all contain the very heart of nature
Right down to the center of our sun.
They all contain a pulse that beats in reflection of the One.