Better Than You Know

When you leave the comfortable

Hollow life of town and office

If only for a short time

You will come to know things

That are better than you know

Things that can exist

Outside your existence

You will learn to discern

The steady steps a deer makes

Approaching through the woods

From the incessant, rooted scratching

Of squirrels in the brush

The way the phoebe bobs its tail

With impatience

At your presence

The unkown sounds of the falling leaves

Singing the song of life to the soil below

And that time of day

When with five fingers of daylight left

The sun finds a seam in the grey sky

And screams an echo of

Light over the land

The remaining hardwood leaves

And pine needles

Break out of their muted repose

And light up the world in a spreading glow

Birds take flight like butterflies

Warmed by the rays of the sun

Circling in their excitement, wings

Flashing in unison

Catching twilight

A last frenzied, gasp before finding

The evening’s roost

As the sun drops, finger by finger

Shadows swallow

Light in great gulps

But in the distance the trees still

Stand aglow

These are the things that are better

Than you know

12-13-2013

©2019 Lenny Wells