As soon as i stepped into the unknown,
the jumble of maple and moss that seemed
larger than the pacific,
i was forced to understand everything at once
I knew how long the old man of the forest
had been in love with the stones of the riverbed
that split this ocean forest in two
I knew how many times i had skipped
each of these stones and what their names are
I know why the old man had fallen in love
with this sea of cedar and peace
The cuts on my skin from the barbed holly leaves
felt like tattoos,
or tapestries given to me by God
The bullet holes of sunbeams,
cutting through the arms of my evergreen friends,
kissed me with angelic warmth
different from fire or friction
These things i know,
for they have shown themselves to me
