Forest Glen and Glade

 

The morning sun struggles to pierce

the living green shield of the forest canopy

dense with the mass of foliage trembling

in the wind, the great masts of poplar

pine and beech swaying, sunrays briefly

penetrating the inner forest landscape

cool and dark suddenly illuminated

just as suddenly returned to its perpetual 

state of soft grey dusk. A song sparrow

trills the pearls of its morning melody

and from the extended branch of an old

maple a red squirrel chatters a rebuke to

any that pass below. Trails lead hither and

yon in this garden of nature's devising

among the soaring trees, descending 

toward the inner bowels of the ravine in

which the forest thrives. Below runs a

waterway fed by far-flung streams the

whole eventually reaching a mighty river.

Damselflies and dragonflies flit light as

thoughts through the silent atmosphere.

In a glade suffused with sunlight and

bright with wildflowers one can wander

bedazzled at the sight of a colonized forest

floor in shades of white, gold, purple and 

pink reflecting from a selection of nature's

seasonal bounty, where berries ripen and

birds of the forest take their fastidious pick.