: deersong :
i wait—silent
hooves pressing in the : Mossplace :
where Red Dawn rises
i feel Soundwood—humming
in our horns
i tell Whitebark the story of my belly
and Leaf the myth—of my mouth
Owlspeech is the feathered trail i travel
into the dew-silver Meadow
Suntree quivers a greenmessage :
make breath in the sacred manner—
make beauty in the walking-way
: we restore for the sunsong inside us :
: we restore for the mystery that moves :
: silence restores us :
now Earth darkens in her time
and plants shadow-tones into our keeping
now the World’s breath changes—pace
Starsap explodes into music in the Composer’s sky
and Nightmoon pulses our spirit-skins
saying hey, hey, hey—
now all Winding Things speak at once—
the common tongue thundering
in the field of our hearts
and storming our mindforest with lightning
Voices snake from Tree to branch to horn to electrify my antlers
and lightstrike my spine
saying : listen !
—the spin-chorus of all things warns us—
Forest trembles : Seedforce trembles : i
tremble
Air tunes our ears to paws approaching
Wind quickens our insides and our outsides
Mistwood says : hark : give ear !
Hear the ones who open-mawed sing !
Listen-smell the ones who howl !
Soilverse echoes danger in the underneath
The humus hums a tremor :
go !
Songmaker conducts the whirling bolt—
of our flight !
our muscles vibrate with the shiftcrack of—now !
Forest stirs so we—leap !
go !
Crow warns us so we know !
Leafwind tells us run—yes : stay—no
Moonsister : glow upon us
running : we go !
flashing away ! Red River pulsing within us !
darting away ! Blue Star bursting our chest !
flashing away ! Greenforce thunders inside us !
they come unto our bodies ! paws they come!
the breath of our hearts ! bounding away !
through the black shudder of Dusk
i weave our cloven family a way
through the shivering valley of thorns
Forest weaves us across Bone Mountain to
the : Mossplace : where i fall to my knees
on soil and stone
where Tor meets Sky i : fall :
giving the greenforce a way
taken by the one who howls—
i become her body
on this final night my breath
becomes beauty
and Wolf tells me the myth—of her mouth
: we restore for the starsong inside us :
: we restore for the mystery that moves :
: wolfsong restores us :