The Place I Want to Get Back To

The Place I Want to Get Back To

is where
in the pinewoods
in the moments between
the darkness

and first light
two deer
came walking down the hill
and when they saw me

they said to each other, okay,
this one is okay,
let's see who she is
and why she is sitting

on the ground, like that,
so quiet, as if
asleep, or in a dream,
but, anyway, harmless;

and so they come
on their slender legs
and gazed upon me
not unlike the way

I go out to the dunes and look
and look and look
into the faces of the flowers;
and then one of them leaned forward

and nuzzled my hand, and what can my life
bring me that could exceed
that brief moment?
For twenty years

I have gone every day to the same woods,
not waiting, exactly, just lingering.
Such gifts, bestowed,
can't be repeated.

If you want to talk about this
come to visit. I live in the house
near the corner, which I have named
Gratitude.

There are so many places to get back to:

• The wild ocelot who nuzzled me in Tikal, Guatemala.
• Discovering "Parrot Paradise" where over 200 parrots roosted every night
• The last swim of the year in the Ichetucknee river in September
• My wedding day
• My dream of seeing an Ivory Billed Woodpecker
• Hearing a voice on an airplane that let me know that love was enough/not enough and all there is

There are so many place to get to, and I hesitate to name one because that would seem to jinx the unexpected gift. Union with the companion by merging in love with this earth can come in so many ways in any of our days. I don't want to box out that possibility by boxing in how we may be surprised by love.

The sun rising through the trees says to me, "Here, now, not in the past, not in the future, today, this moment."

May gratitude today open the many doors that invite you to feel at home on this planet, in love, loved, and beloving.

What is your list of "places to get back too?"