Gaea

by brian francis

I found a world spread out naked before me.
I searched for meaning in every glen and dale.
And there I grew, a child of rural splendor,
Amid the rows and fences, both stone and rail.

In the woods I discovered nature’s secrets,
and I explored other secrets there too.
Hidden in the brambles of distant ridges,
the lessons so very many; the days so few.

When time had passed, enough for growing.
When the fence posts, were, no longer so high
I turned away, from all that splendid landscape,
and I looked for answers, hidden in the sky.

Searching took me far from my beginning.
Half a world away I found my place.
The green and rolling hills a distant memory,
seen through the mist of a chemical haze.

In the heat of the desert I discovered glory,
a rapture born of cactus buds,
an electric buzz in fungal fury.
Those college days, drowned in suds.

Along the way god became a theory;
argued hard and long within.
Debating points of syntactic twisting
I found in truth – the greatest sin.

In mountains high above the desert;
islands, cool forests, in the desert heat.
I first heard nature’s gentle calling.
A melodious voice both strong and sweet.

Beneath an oak of ancient lineage,
the songs of times past were found.
A flute and fiddle sang well together.
Tears soon flowed, a precious sound.

Mother earth, and mistress heavens
Appease my heart and sing to me.
A cast light of lunar dimness,
an offering beneath the tree.

Copyright ©2021 brian francis