Forest Interior

All is silently serene as we navigate
our way through the forest trails
relaxed in the calm of its atmosphere
and conscious of the beauty of its
landscape. An inaudible sigh emanates
from the forest interior at our entry
and it is not ours but that of the many
curious eyes following our wandering
steps and wondering what our purpose
could possibly be, strangers for whom
this place is not home, but their very
own. The silence is broken by an aria
of penetrating lofty notes and a cardinal
alights nearby its crimson feathers lit
by those shafts of sunlight weaving
through the forest canopy. Where
there was no sound suddenly there
are chirping voices of chickadees and
nuthatches. A song sparrow brightens
the air with transcendent notes of airy
lightness. Then all is once again still.
Mice and voles, chipmunks and their
progeny, squirrels and snakes make no
sounds that reach our ears until a red
squirrel scolds our presence on this
balmy spring day. Woodpeckers thrum
in the distance and then once again silence.
Then the sound of a deeper voice in its
inimitable way the only one to ask of
us Hooo are you? An owl's self-assurance
whose presence all others are existentially
aware of. And as we exit the forest and
its exquisite heaving, thriving green
interior leaving all behind, it exhales.