Ferns and bramble.
And beneath—
Creatures of darkness snuffle along paths
Charted from an instinctual nomadry.
Few could guess the commerce that passes through those channels,
Surfaces unruffled except for the summer breeze or the impact of rain.
Occasionally a sun’s ray shines down
Through an occasional gap in the canopy.
Larynxes widened, whiskers extended—the various actors make their entrances,
The fleet, long-footed forager against the patient carnivore.
Do I dare enter this busy activity, this network of refined intelligence?
Let my keratin shell drag along collapsing ground
my cheeks disquieted
my nostrils narrowed
By the discord that reigns elsewhere along the curvature of the Earth?
Under that rapt foliage, in the churning world of murmurs,
I may well find myself.
Andy Oram
June 5, 2024