Do you live in a box?
Above a crowded street?
Is your only taste of the earth
the ethereal essence of freesia
or sweet olive
at the florist shop
down the street
or the ripe mangoes
on the vendor's stand?

Take a walk with me
into the woods
far beneath the towering, glistening shade
of a redwood tree
stand inside the trunk
touch the earth
smell the soil and green things
that lend life
to everything

Do you live in a world
full of travels
"No time, no time...too much to do" your mantra
Will you come
meet me in a lonesome place
far from prying eyes and
busy schedules

and take a walk with me?
Into the fields full of clover and sunflowers
onto a butte
covered in tall grasses that hiss in the wind
lay on your back and watch the clouds pass
and smell the summer storm approaching
and not flinch when the raindrops thump your skin
chilly and warm all at the same time...

Do the demands on you
leave you drained
as if the very fibre of your being
belongs to someone else?

Take a walk with me
into the badlands
but bring water
and I'll show you a cave
and a painting
thousands and thousands
of years old
and you can again
find inspiration
for in the painting
are the wild things
that you choose not to see

Are people watching your every move?
While everything you say
even in jest
is attributed some nonsensical meaning?

Take a walk with me
to the edge of a high-country lake
sit at the end of a dock
and dangle your feet 
into the chilly water
kick and splash
like when you were six
then...jump in
Let the water wash over your head
And feel yourself
reborn...then

Look to the sky, and see the bottle-glass-blue butterflies
for the first time
and the hawk on the telephone pole
and the deer in the fallow glade...
see...life

Live it
Treasure it
Take a walk with me
and pass it on
with love...

Will you...

Take a walk with me?


 note: photo taken from Requa hill - mouth of the Klamath River - remote northern California - favorite think spot - beware cougars...grrr.