Solitude

[started in 1978, completed in 2011]

            -1-

The early forest night is still

The snow drifts softly thru the pines

And hemlocks stand as sentinels

To guard and mutely shield from view

The cabin that I built of logs

That has become my oft time home

When solitude and need to think

Become the foremost needs in life.

But though the snow is very deep

And nearly hides the house from view

Its very depth provides the warmth

The peace and solitude long sought.

Where thoughts, and fantasies of thought

Develop into dreams that seem

So real – yet aren’t reality.

A life that I don’t care to live.

I sit in warmth, and comfort too

And gaze into a hickory fire

To contemplate the years ahead

Without a western girl to share

This simple, forest life with me

A life that I have known for years

And one that would the envy be

Of those who wish to be apart.

            -2-

It’s here I’ve spun my own cocoon

Of sturdy logs of pine that shield

Me from the sweat of summer’s heat,

And helps to beat the winter cold.

But more importantly it hides

A world of care “this veil of tears,”

That often presses down and bears

So hard upon this native son.

I’ve watched for years, as seasons change

I’ve seen the cycle, from the spring

Through summer’s heat, to fall that’s filled

With yellows, reds, and rustic browns

Until the leaves come drifting down.

The chill before the winter’s storm

And then begins again the time

When depth of snow brings peace sublime.

Is she the one? The thought returns

As so it has at times before

But could she ever share this life

And come to know the pageantry

My forest shows, though now it lies

In winter’s shroud of virgin snow

That never lets a dreamer see

The secrets held beneath its depths.

            -3-

But gradually the snow does melt,

And forest come alive once more,

The spring returns and starts to show

That green that reaches toward the sky

And warming sun. And soon we know

The beauty of it all is here

In forest, glades, and fields aglow

With types of flowers, some known, some not

A kind of medley of the wild.

Where evening brings the whip-poor-will

Down near the lake, its notes do swell.

A great horned owl gives forth its hoot

So all may hear its hunting call

While bats abound, and “skeeters” don’t

I no more hear their whining hum.

And coyotes up upon the hill

Send forth their howling, mournful cries.

Where cautious doe, with spotted fawn

Seek out a hiding place ‘fore dawn.

And turkeys, with their young do strut

So blithely past the cabin, where

A big black bear, so rarely seen

Has left his scat along the trail

And on occasion will a moose

Be seen by some – for Quabbin’s near.

            -4-

I’ve seen bald eagles circling high

Above the Quabbin’s pristine shore

While sharp eyed fish hawks hover still

Above the stream before the plunge.

And blue jays with their raucous cries

Alert the world that something’s nigh.

I see the partridge with her brood

That live each year along the brook.

And later when the sun is low

I’ll wade into the silent stream

And tie a fly on leader long,

Then roll cast, watch it drift, then see

The rise, the rainbow’s flashing swirl.

He fights, the struggle lasting long

But e’re he even comes to net

I know what I will eat this night.

The sun is low, and going down

In all its splendor, reds and golds

That slowly turn a purple hue

Until the daylight fades away

And evening shadows start to play

Upon the stream in which I stand

And watch a black-capped chickadee

Go upside down on a willow tree.

            -5-

I hear the sound of whistling wings

And see a pair of blacks glide in

To land, where silvery dragonflies

flit to and fro among the reeds.

I watch as trout in failing light

Jump one last time to take a nymph

Then hear the flapping of great wings

And know a heron’s just gone by.

While in the darkening shadows hear

A bittern’s short but mournful cry.

And then a fox’s warning yelp

Tells me he’s caught this human’s scent.

Now light is gone. I wade ashore

And hear the sounds of coming night.

It’s then I know that in my heart

Peace has come with the coming dark.