"Step into the shadows,"”
The ancient trees said,
"Find your way into the darkness,
For there are secrets here
The daylight can never tell."”

But I, smitten by illumination,
Avoided those edges,
Walking the way of
Graveled paths built by hands
Solid in form and mind.

"Come and play!"”
Called swooping bats
Who danced on the night wind,
Teasing my fears,
But never injuring my form.

While I, besieged with shudders,
Pretended all was well within,
Skipping along to my thin, nylon home
Where sweet dreams lay in wait
And songs never before heard
By these modern ears.

"Find your place in this penumbra,
Our fine daughter of beauty,
Allow this density to embrace your soul,
For until you make friends with it,
You will never fully live a day."”

Still I, paralyzed by dread,
Could only stand naked
Before stars and moon
Hoping my skin would drink it in
Even if my feet dared not walk into it
Praying my bare self would suffice.

"Where you cannot see by light
Waits a safety too mellifluous to describe
By utterances alone;
It is by experience you must know it,
Oh please, dear and precious daughter,
Let the love you feel among us entice you duly,
Allow us to adumbrate your reality,
Those things you know
On the gossamer threads of the sun."”

And so I, surrounded by all that is
In every realm,
Stepped at last into all I could not see,
Blinded by the absence of elucidation,
Engulfed by the trillions of decadent hands
Waiting to guide me through all things
Dark and frightening,
But finding instead
A world not recountable by human vocabulary
Spoken or written;
An experience one must know
And know alone.

09/14/2008

Author's Note: In the night of that forest, the darkness was thick and palpable. And it called to me.

Posted on 09/14/2008
Copyright © 2024 Alison McKenzie