If you need a reason

for love (the noun)

or love (the verb),

consider this:

the companions, the places, the things, and the moments

filling and surrounding your life, the one you have right now,

have not yet been taken away.

 

So love while you are still able,

pouring all that you are

into those glass jars of impermanence

teetering on the edge of “not yet.”

for Casey

Those of us who have wild woven into our souls—

     we who are pulled toward mountains,

     growing stronger as we get closer,

     we who ache to smell and touch trees,

     desiring the touch of the sun, the tickle of the wind

     as much as we do any flesh and blood lover,

     we who nestle into beds of leaves and grass,

     cradled and comforted into deep, dreamful sleep,

     we who carry the river, feeling it rush and flow

     through the caverns and banks of our own bodies,

     we who can decipher the alphabet of the stars,

     delighting in the poetry we read in each night sky,

     we who feel honored by the presence of animals,

     grateful for all they teach and tell,

     we who need regular doses of fresh, outside air

     to sustain us during time in buildings and cities,

     we whose spirits recognize their reflections

     in the forest’s eyes, the desert’s mirror,

     we who learn our truths by listening

     to birdsong and thunder, by paying attention to lessons

     taught by clouds and rocks, raindrops and feathers,

     we who cannot and will not stop exploring,

     curiosity propelling us farther and farther,

     we who speak the language of wonder

     and sing songs of discovery—

we must take care of each other,

using our feel-everything-wide-open hearts

to find each other and nurture the longings

for freedom and wilderness in our daily lives.

We must seek opportunities to commune,

to celebrate, and collaborate, igniting

and sustaining flames of passion and purpose.

We must share the abundant lessons and gifts

from the natural world with those who need them,

using our ease, our skills in the woods

to guide others’ journeys toward discovery.

We must protect those places and all

that inhabit them, balancing our knowledge

with responsibility, modeling respect and reverence.

We must commit to staying wise and alive,

staying aware and connected, carving time

out of our tame lives to get out and simply be

in those spaces and with those spirits

that remind us who we really are,

how wild we have always been,

how wild we must remain.

From rise to set,

that ball of light and heat

travels the path of purpose

 

Two days of dusk till dawn

teaches more than any

science textbook

 

Strips of sky, like

mistresses wait with patience

for sun to touch them again

 

When curtains of clouds

seal sun away, time hides

in a faraway place

 

In the spirit world

everything speaks,

every being carries

a message meant

exclusively for you.

To participate

in the lesson,

simply trust that

you can know

without having to

think, that you will

feel the wisdom

settle and spread

as you receive

answers to questions

you did not know

you were asking.