Dear Wilderness,

Can I be
out there
with you
all alone – just
you and me?

As the night murmurs
I shall listen peacefully.

Proud to grasp
the wind’s whispers,
I may nod calmly.

The fragrances,
queer and exotic,
sweep past
mysteriously.

And thus,
as the music
of the trees,
the wind,
and my soul
swirls and merges,
I live
I truly live.