Earth Day: Evening walk on the Serpentine Dike
Open your nostrils
Receive the fragrance of burst willow
budsBreathe spring-steeped air.
Tread lightly:
Hear your own soft footfallsFeel them reverberate from soles to crown.
Overhear the cadenced
conversations of geese
Flying low over the marshlandsWhoosh of wings audible against air.
Catch the splash of squalling ducks
As they swim, see the perfect vee
behind each Traced on the glass-still water.
Scent coming rain
Feel the first hesitant droplets touch
your hair.
Sense elusive memories
Connecting this walk with years
of other walks.
Feel beneath the feet
The uneven shape, the wild mud
and grass-clad bodyOf Earth our Mother – familiar, beloved.