Which Path have YOU chosen?

I sit here on my chosen path
That I have known so well
Yet a neighbor has decided
That nature he will sell.

As he cuts a road, or path or house seat
Past the 100 year old oak
Upon which I now lean.

I see the wildflowers blowing in the wind,
Thinking of their diversity and how each of them has become a friend to the forest floor beneath them,
How each has nourished upon death,
And grown to be so beautiful.

Rebirth, and death simultaneously
All about me in this forest.
I see the shadows so very long
For it is near afternoon, late at that;
And I sit alone
Amongst the rusted barbed wire fence
Between the great oaks and hickory trees
Looking at the shagginess of its bark
Amazed at the diversity about me.

And I wonder just how do all these trees, quite different in their size, shape and variety
Seem to get along so well?
Living side by side
With nothing horrible to tell,
Yet they’ve seen man come through here
And mark his place on this land,
Whether during Underground Railroad times,
Or when the natives toured their homeland.

Yet we ran them out too, just as we are the trees
Bit by bit we take over
What God had meant to be
Yet with a smile they pull those bulldozers ever closer still
To my precious Appalachian Mountain;
Where I want nothing to change,
Yet still,
It matters not
That is something I’ve learned
Quite the hard way
As always has been my case.

My opinion is just that an opinion
Everybody has one.
Some their opinion matters more than others,
Mine at this point,
Is rather mute.

Is that by choice?
Or is that by defeat?
Is that by effort that can’t give anymore,
Or by simply giving up?

All I know is 45 years of effort is not giving up,
Forty-five years is trying until you can’t take it anymore.
And you’ve tried everything possible
For people to hear the call
To listen to the woods
To take them internally
Not just to let the sounds and smells pass through
Letting it pass through sight, smell, touch and out of the brain.
The whispers of nature, the pleas from me for others to see,
As soon as the words are spoken are they forgotten?

I don’t speak a lot
But when I do, it’s for a reason
It’s to share something I have to share
A feeling that must come out.
Yet the words are oft not heeded,
Nor it seems needed.

The lord has blessed me so much with these woods
For since I started these walks
Serenity has taken over me,
Prayers spoken softly have seen me through
This only I KNOW to be true.

Yes the path is narrow
But it is something I must do
I must trudge ever onward
And hold my head up high
And know that to someone;
Somehow, these words will not fall nigh upon deaf ears.

Somehow they’ll be heard,
Not like the shot around the world,
But somehow,
Through my actions, my behavior, or better yet other’s own personal experience
Of what I am desperately trying to reveal.

Is that the answer? To keep rotely repeating myself?
Or is it just plain muteness?
for perhaps that is best,
Which is what I have now chosen.
It would be a time of evil if the things I could have spoken
Like the forked tongue of the snake
Injecting poison, exited my mouth,
Alas, The things I know and do not share!

But would it matter if I dared?
I think not.
God, wipe the tears from my eyes
With the wind that blows by my side.

I thank you Lord for this place
That has seen so few human face
And for allowing me to be
Amongst all of your wonderful beauty
For giving me the solace to see
That this is really all we need
To get back to the trueness of self,
The trueness of life
Which is what you gave us without resentment or strife.

You offered it freely
Yet so many forsook
But I promise you Lord
I promise
I took,
I took your word and believed each phrase
I believe in my heart each and every day.
And I thank you for the peacefulness
For the unity of nature.
One plays upon another here in the natural world,
Yet there isn’t the spitefulness that we see in the human race.

Living and dying is a natural thing here upon the forest floor
Predator or prey alike, (in the animal or plant kingdom)
Must face their OWN final day.
Yet man tries to speed up that demand for their death,
In order to fill their troughs with monetary or territorial rights.

Needless to say,
Depression has hit;

I can’t endure the unobservant human much more,
And their total disregard for your created way,
They destroy any and everything in their wake
Without a second thought, and it makes me so distraught,

And I’m fighting it with all my might Lord
Please help me make it quit.
Please help me make it quit.

Ctrygirl 2009