Refuge

There it is, that overwhelming 
realization of serenity your mind
grasps at grateful for a reprieve
from the constant tumult life
imposes, a temporary state of
peace that descends and suddenly
nothing is that desperately acute
and the inner turmoil pacified as
you stride along a forest pathway
taking note of tree roots and fallen
foliage, feeling the very landscape
alive and thrumming with unseen
life as bees and butterflies flit
from wildflower to shrub, the call
of a hawk pierces the air, the 
syncopated beat of a woodpecker
shredding bark, a red squirrel
scolds as you pass under its branch
and on either side of the trail you
note the pine and poplar giants
of the forest among hawthorn and
bass, hemlock and maples, mere
striplings that shafts of sunlight
illuminate falling to the forest floor 
to  highlight fungi in improbable 
shades of orange, the forest in a 
generous mood sharing its variant 
landscape even as your buoyed spirit 
integrates with your surroundings.