Wendy Jensen
They are still here.
An unspoken presence
first fully realized
within the air
and ground
of the forest.
Inseparable from sunbeams
streaming down
and rich earth smells
wafting up.
Only a feeling
no sound
beyond whispering branches
and murmuring creek water.
The towering ancient corrugated trunks
rooted deeply into the soft dark soil
even larger
than my eyes
could take in.
I touched
my hands a tiny flicker
against thousand year-old beings
who disappeared
into the air
above.
A mouse tapping
the foot
of a mountain.
Their greeting arose in me
realized in retrospect.
A welcome
understood