Pine Blossom Pavement

PINE BLOSSOM PAVEMENT I never left the soft sunshine, reflected across the satin smooth pond, deep in the forest, with flowered edges of pink ladyslippers, wild roses and daisies, to slope old deer trails...... foraging mushrooms, wild garlic and sage, I'm still in awe as I pass by city trees, reminded of old growth red and white pine, towering over my humble path, whispering wisdom.... as their crowns gently sway in the wind. I pour myself a glass of tap water.... but am refreshed again, as I drink from the secret spring I discovered bursting forth, the true 'Source of the Mississippi' a stone's throw from Lake Itasca.... on Elk Lake sirens wail, but sleep still comforts me.... with haunted loon lullabies, and melancholy frog symphonies, I still eat fast food, but am nourished by line-caught fish rising to my bait... as fog lifts with the sunrise, I barrel down the freeway.... while still paddling silently into sunsets filled with looming shadows of the voyageurs, all around the city sounds.... yet I hear cheerful warblers and the midnight bark of the doe, calling her fawns, gasses from sewer vents confront me.... but I smile! as the skunk marks his range, I'm back in the city, ..... but think in the forest back in the city.... but think in the forest