Fractured

Leaf litter is strewn on the ground

All around the sacred place

We love to walk

So much of it

That Jasper’s paws

Hurt

And as I saw the scattering

Of shattered branches and leaves

Thick upon the ground

I thought of the fracturing forces

Within which modern man

So often lives

Far from peace

Or traumatised beyond belief

Some souls run ragged

On the edge of despair

Shattered by separation and loneliness

And our split from the soul

In self and nature runs deep

And so it was today

The earth received my tears

As I felt the grief

Run through my spine

While my aching head burned

For sometimes when I glimpse this place

I do not believe

My heart and soul

Can take much more

And yet the earth is still willing

To receive my tears