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| An undeveloped Pennsylvania mountain woodland |
After a storm at this season,
the sun comes out and lights up the tender, rising field,
the birds sing without ceasing,
and all of nature is full of light and fragrance.
The woods stands dark and glittering with rain,
fully leaved at last and insular to sight and sound,
and to walk in the woods in the last week of May
is to enter the present in an envelope of peace,
Leaving behind both the past and the future,
time stopped by dripping rain and green shadow,
Maypoles pooled around you, each with its thimble of rain,
you stand hip-deep in lady ferns among the sanity of trees.
For a moment you try to be as still as an oak,
steadfast and strong, firm in one place for centuries,
and though you are a human among humans and can't stay,
you'll take it with you when you go,
For such a simple act has revolutionized your day,
and you'll be back.
