SINCE 9/11
--after surviving the attack on New York, 2001

When terror festers in me
and my eyes open at a strange noise
in the midst of night
frightened of my coming death
or what my child's life will become,
I go to the woods to listen for the loon's call on the lake
and sit by the lull of the lapping waters, glistening
where the great blue heron fed in the day.
I come alone among the peace of the wild world,
and realize that birds and fish do not upset their lives with politics
or imagined grief to come.

I sit lulled by the lapping water of the deep lake and listen
to the tiny songs of insects,
until I feel the distance of stars as I reach out to them
amidst the great mystery of endless space
full of the smell of burning stars--
and I know that many stars I see -millions of light years away-
have died long ago
and been seen by lovers longer than I can ever live.

I come
into the presence of a immense uni-
verse, feel the confinement of my spirit left behind
in my bed, and wait for the great sun to rise.

I rest awake in the vast grace of the world
--free to be in the moment of my being
without pain or regret,
breathing deep of dark pines
as my soul sings the gurgling leap of a fish.

Even the owl's feathery swoop
and the vole's scream as it's gulped
seems in its place
and at peace.