AN ACCOUNT OF MY UNDERSTANDING

And it made me take to the woods and the quiet of the woods.

I smelled the deep dirt and the glorious shrubbery of the earth.
In deep woods I paused at how light moves through tall branches.
And I walked until I was tired and I pitched my tent
while white orange faded — imperceptibly — into night. 
And I slept and I dreamed...

I dreamed of the woods and the quiet of the woods.
I smelled the deep dirt and the glorious shrubbery of the earth.
And I dreamed of light and how it moves through tall branches.
And I dreamed of light and the fading of light.

And I dreamed of the ease of hate and demarcation.
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
And their pride and arrogance stood in full relief.

Do you know the value of experience?  Of patience?
A woman apologized for remarks she once made to me.
I remember how they hurt.
A confident man whom I had come to know once told me,
in a quiet moment,
“I don’t know.”
Remember this.

And I awoke. 


This poem first appeared in the Avalon Literary Review, Fall 2017.
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