This forest glade, mossy, silent underfoot, <br />shaft of sunlight catching the quivering flight of woodland moths, <br />tempts even the shyest, slender deer <br />whose slightest nostril twitch, reveals a whole forest’s map; <br />the crackle of a single twig, a disappearing, graceful leap; <br />yet even the deer graze undisturbed <br />when in a thought’s space, that creature’s there; <br />for not proximity but presence, is what they share; <br />each, in peace, moves in the other’s presence; <br />this we know as peace. <br /> <br />and on the high hills where the air is ever on the move, <br />the eagle, circling like the first navigator <br />of the globe – yet seeing so much more – <br />glances undisturbed; with knowledge, and love, too, that’s beyond <br />family, or prey, when that strange, familiar white creature <br />with flowing mane, prances, canters, into sight; their presence shared <br />so far apart; so near. <br /> <br />and in the foamy waves, the dolphins leap and sport <br />around it, as that creature, open-mouthed as if in joy, <br />shakes from its wet and glorious mane <br />the salty drops of water, while the dolphins <br />speak to it in a language beyond beauty’s sound – <br /> <br />so this noble creature in its turn <br />undisturbed by those to whom it shows itself <br />beyond all perturbations of the world; <br />detached, yet gives itself to all; <br /> <br />Orpheus, or unicorn, or Muse – <br />to be led by such a creature, joyously, <br />knowing nothing of the where or here or there <br />but trust – this the poetry of the world.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/unicorn-7/
