I walk in these woods nestled deep within a tangle of highways The hum of traffic beyond the treeline elaborates what a calm clouded day could have settled completely without raising its voice Fire and storm, unrest flood and calamity, all at some distance now, a stunning calm as I rest on a bench Cooper's Hawk swoops low through the canopy and finds a perch nearby A female Common Yellowthroat works a boggy shallow near the parking lot as young mothers stroll with infants in carriages Snakes uncoil in the tan water by the boardwalk in the heart of this sprawling city and in the pit of my stomach Restaurants and business offices and butterflies, the damp forest floor, tree shade, the air I surrender myself to the sum of it to the expert nursing staff here in intensive care
The Houston Arboretum at Memorial Park, Houston, Texas.
