Lost and Found

I cannot pass a stream without pausing for a moment
my eyes being drawn into its depth, somewhere between the surface
and the bottom, in-between somewhere
where water traveling over rock
                      Speaks in tones 
no longer understood by a species, distracted
by its own artificial environment

Yet if I listen words may be heard that pull me into
a world incomprehensible by my trained
mind of numbers and facts that confuse
rather than supports my brief existence
                          In this world

I stare into this space, trying to clear my mind
of all thoughts, distracting me from entering
into a world lost to the memory of society or
what frightens me, is it my imagination
that I hear a ancient voice understood
                          Only in nature
directing the relationship between water and land

Circle II      Back to Work 

A stream reminds me of
busy sidewalks, streets filled with
people, trying to ignore one another, maneuvering,
avoiding interaction, creating a world of noisy
silence between one another

I wander in this world, often without direction
where a girl may pass by
her eyes focus ahead, her breast keeping beat
with her stride, I try to focus deep inside
failing to see the nature of my mind

The street choked with automobiles
each with destination locked somewhere
in the minds of a trained society
whose direction is from what might be
an unpublished manuscript, lost
                              In childhood

Just where is this book of unwritten laws?
so my destination is revealed
what my eyes are unable to see
I fail to comprehend the scene

Circle III      Refuge 

Often I go back to my woodland path
its purpose is found with each step I take
there is always a stream that beckons me
to stop, to stare, to dream
somewhere between surface and bottom,
where tumbling pebbles will reach
                             Their destination 
I remove shoes and socks, wading into the water

Marvin Young