I Lived A Forest Life

I lived a forest life

away from worldly strife,

at peace among the pines

in ancient times.

I was ‘poetry and prayers’,

winter-robed in layers

like the forest grown old

with yearly blankets of snow.

Weathered by heat and cold,

I was a Japanese man

at-one with the land

and in harmony with Nature.

I learned humility, too,

bending like wise, young trees,

showing respect to those old

surviving worldly winds

blowing ‘hot and cold’.

I was ‘poetry and prayers’,

adding and subtracting layers

in the language of my soul.

December 2, 2025

Shelley A. Wilson