Two and a half years ago

I was suffocating

In a toxic job

In an endless war that was only just beginning

In self-doubt

In August

I found out that the bike path a street away from my home

Led into forest.

I do not know how

I managed not to know it before

But once I knew

The bike lane became a way out

It became a way to better things

It became the way.

The forest became a place of all possibility

Although I shouldn’t say became

Because it always was.

The forest remained himself

And the bike lane that suffered a lot of damage

From predatory urban development

Still leads into the forest.

It took me two and a half years

To understand how the hiking paths intersect

Still, I get lost sometimes

Especially at the change of seasons.

I want to thank

All the creatures that have met me there

All the powerful strangers

That made me stand in awe

And worship their beauty and their sheer aliveness.

The pilleated woodpecker that once soundlessly flew past me

On a soggy and solitary lunchtime walk,

The grey barn owl that must have taken a fancy on me

Because I met her at least twice,

And the meadow vole who has joined me on the walk

Through the fresh-fallen snow

Who ran silently alongside me

Then decidedly crossed my path

And climbed onto my boot, shaking her tiny whiskers.

Thank you.