I used to love to go walking
where there were woods, where there was silence.
Oftentimes, only I knew
where such places were, how to slip in
and disappear into the green.
I would love to see those places again
but it's difficult anymore
to keep my feet, to keep from dropping things,
and so my dog and I stay to the back yard.
I am the steward of these several trees
at least for now and for the last twenty years.
After I am gone? I hate to think of that.
I would love to go walking once again
where there were woods, where there was silence,
but, like the version of me who could wander away an afternoon,
they no longer exist.
New subs, roads, even a casino
have replaced them with a keen voracity.
Yesterday, worried for my dog's safety,
I shook a broken limb from one of my maples.
In trying to clean up, I tripped, fell, could not get up.
In the casino where quiet woods used to be,
they say the house always wins
and my house will still remain when I am gone.
And the trees? Well, the trees...
who will speak for them, then?
__________
for WGO? "Solastalgia" with Sherry Marr hosting.
Music: Leon Russell "Stranger In A Strange Land"
I am living the same way here, my friend. So sorry you fell and couldn't get up. I love that you have been the steward of those trees for so long. I so resonate with "I would love to go walking once again / where there were woods, where there was silence." I cant walk the trails I love so much any more either, and am quite housebound. Fortunately I love my sweet little place, as you do yours, and I have two old trees outside my window, too. Thanks for linking, kiddo.
ReplyDeleteAnd "Who will speak for the trees?" indeed. Here, in a town full of environmentalists, we have lost so many trees to "development" that the climate has changed from a rainforest, and we now get intense heat, water restrictions and the threat of wildfires. Sigh.
DeleteIt is an awful (and frightening) feeling to fall and not to be able to get up! Sometimes staying close to home is the answer, but sad not to be able to walk in the woods. And yes, who will speak for the trees when we are gone?
ReplyDeleteNothing could be more appropriate to this sweet, sad statement of the difference between the freedom of 'then' and the almost-prison of 'now' than your Leon Russell song. The land that seems so familiar is made strange by the failing eyes that now struggle to see it, and by what they find instead. I love both the deep appreciation of what was in this, and the sad recognition of what is.
ReplyDeleteI would love to go walking once again
ReplyDeletewhere there were woods, where there was silence,
So, sorry to learn of your fall it must have been scary. I can understand the desire to stay closer to home after that.
"Oftentimes, only I knew
ReplyDeletewhere such places were, how to slip in
and disappear into the green."
And now the slip away place is only the backyard. I sympathize. I walk, I fall, I stay home. But, like with The Little Prince, home has the heart. May the house win forever, will the trees stay as long as they can. I love your puns, love the poem.
I am hoping you will start up your prompt site again! I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete"In trying to clean up, I tripped, fell, could not get up."...The line echoes the predicament of the woods, trees and whatever life there is left trying to survive the human onslaught. I love the caring and nurturing tone of the poem. It's awful to fall and not being able to get up. Hope this doesn't happen to you again.
ReplyDelete