PSITHURISM

(Inspired by my memories as a boy exploring the Boundary Waters of the Superior National Forest.)  

Little man  
Curious child  
Don’t leave yet  
Stay awhile  
Listen to the pines  
Murmuring in the zephyr  
“Please don’t leave”  
“Stay little brother”  
Even the whitetail’s  
Bones of long ago  
Begs you to stay  
“Please don’t go”  
Beneath the stones  
Wait the beetle bugs  
In the decaying loam  
Hide wiggly grubs  
“Come find us”  
They deplore  
There is so much more  
For you to explore  
Don’t pass through that door  
Of cynical maturity  
Where life is measured  
In insatiable greed  
Stay here in the forest  
With your spirits kindred  
Like Muir, Walden, Irwin  
And Mary Oliver  
Look see, Audubon’s spirit feather  
It floats on the breeze  
Follow it young child  
To more wonders and discoveries  
“He’s leaving”  
“He’s fading”  
“He’s gone”  
The forest began grieving  
But whispering optimism  
Sings the psithurism  
“Maybe someday he’ll return”  
“With his own children”