Jeremy Leach

A thoughtful walk in the wood

A deepest blue-wash backdrop to the towering, ancient trees

Dark swaying branches in their patterned reach to the wispy vivid grey-whites of the strong-blown autumnal clouds

Silhouettes in a painters-palette of an unknown masterpiece

Hidden in this mossy, damp wood, away from all the world

 

And as the path descends through a kaleidoscope of dappled moving light and shade

The orange-red berries shout from the spikey depths of passing dark greens

The crows grumble angry broadcasts across their territorial treetops

As they fly wide, slow spirals down into the silent, lower field

 

Tiny emerald-rich plants shoot leaves of exquisite, startling beauty towards the fading sun

Quivering delicately against the earthy, old stone wall in a chorus of abundance

Fair maidens hiding behind the gold-strewn bracken towers

Silently avoiding eye-contact in their collective bashful shyness

 

Treasures of cream-white Mushrooms stand like sentries beside the battlements of darkest-brown ancient trunks

Their tight, smooth curves playfully distorting the boredom of a human’s pure circles

Bright spots bounding the canvas of bark-edged dim lines and shadowed foliage

Effortlessly exhibiting a wonderful gallery of perfect imperfection

 

And as I descend the path as it unfurls towards the final stretch towards home

From the canopy of that mysterious, secret wood and back to life’s usual course

I reflect on a feeling of something fleeting, that I’ve unexpectedly gained

Some imperceptibly tiny insight into our all-reaching, staggering universe