I schoop the felt-footed chair
across the wooden floor,
as the bicycle swooshes by
outside on the wet sidewalk.
The city mmmms
in the silence of the night and
I am awakened by an early-morning clack
on the door.
A delivery man sloshes through a puddle
and I hear a phone ping in the hallway
to alert someone to his presence.
A car rrrrrs by my open window,
followed by a large pickup truck – RRRRR.
I leave the city for the forest,
find a clearing, sit cross-legged
with my back against a Ponderosa pine,
close my eyes,
breathe – sheee, shooo, sheee, shooo –
and the forest is so still,
I can hear my heart,
pah-pum, pah-pum, pah-pum.
I am at peace.
