He is a prepossessing figure of a man,
a towering edifice of flesh. Large he is,
but not an ounce of misplaced flesh. He
is taut-skinned, sinewy, well-muscled,
quite clearly physically fit for any purpose.
He carries a rucksack, for that is his
purpose, to convey retrieved items.
This man treasures the nature of nature.
And though aware that nature's purpose
is to nurture, his purpose is dedicated to
removing the capricious insults hurled
by disrespectful human louts upon her
soft brown and bristling green carapace.
He climbs hillsides, clambers down creek
banks, to retrieve the detritus of a
wasteful society. Items spurned as trash
seen fitting to adorn the urban forest.
No challenge too daunting, he hauls out
wrecked lawn furniture, bed mattresses,
car tires, smashed bicycles and tossed
electronics, to relieve nature of their
inappropriate burden on her landscape.
Useless to the creatures whose home
is the forest, a pox on the purity of nature's
ability to decompose and regenerate.
To him, we are indebted. And when we
tell him so, he guffaws, good nature
radiating to embrace us, his deep,
rasping voice assuring he is doing something
that has deep meaning and value to him.
He speaks of the wild creatures living
there that we have never seen, despite
our constant presence in that environment.
Of his own deep and abiding obligation
to nature, his pleasure in redeeming
humankind's careless disregard
for her purpose and dignity. Hero, he.
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