Forest Walking

The dirt track leads off into the trees, wrapping thoughts with foliage. A green canopy renders the sun impotent, a protective sheath against its heat. The beckoning path is followed into the cocoon of trees and bushes, and in this cool serenity, the mind relaxes, dispersing into its environs, leaving nothing here but the forest.

Forest walking

Thought-leaves

Falling from nowhere

An old hut seems abandoned to this peace, its sad facade a reminder of mortality. Only a brief stop to witness its decrepitude before it is deserted once more, left to fade into the forest. Coming to a fork in the track, a choice must be made. To carry on or turn left. Feet do the thinking and walk on before a decision rises in this mind, slow footsteps on the dry earth. 

Forest walking

Monks' hut

But no monk

This path seems to lead to no place in particular, so a retreat is called for. On the way back, stranded leaves catch the eye. They are aged, gone crispy, and their colour is draining away. On closer examination, they have a certain beauty contained in their brownness, and a pathetic appeal in the holes that riddle them. They have had their best day, and now fade into time, as younger, vibrant leaves are clung to by the trees, until they too will lose their lustre.

Forest walking

Dead leaves

For companions

Gazing upwards, a dark heaven awaits in the form of the silhouetted foliage. A break in its blackness reveals the clear sky beyond, a blue promise of clarity. The small sun sparkles through another gap in the trees, a jewel grasping attention. This is a brief distraction from the path itself, however, and feet walk on, following the curve of the track. 

Forest walking

Sunlight winks

Through the trees

The forest flows through awareness, the track eaten up by this hungry traveller. Green flits by into nothingness as the end of the path is reached. Ah! Back into the worked of people, concerns, important things. And yet, they are all falling leaves, plummeting through the verdure of this mind. Every moment can be forest walking, for the message contained in fauna and flora is found in concrete and metal, too. 

Forest walking

Through me

Stillness everywhere

Related post: Forest Walking II