A Walk in the Woods*

I

know when I have been away too long

the senses have been dulled

by the glass and asphalt world

I

walk much too quickly

but the senses slowly awaken

my eyes now focus on what

I

had missed ten minutes ago

my hearing becomes more acute

I

now begin to revel in the aromas

permeating the air

my pace slows to a crawl

everything excites me

how could I have missed the salamander

resting on a moss covered log

I

get down on my hands and knees

turn over rocks

smell he earth

the air

is delicious

I

 breathe slowly

I

exhale on a fern frond

I

know we share

some primitive DNA

I 

marvel at the 

Dragonfly

perched on my shoulder

I

see its great ancestor

in the multifaceted eyes

and once again

I 

am king of kings

on dragonfly wings

###

Robert Louis DeStefano

Somewhere in the Berkshires

* I have just discovered that my younger brother Robert has turned to the writing of poetry. For years and years I have known him as a master science teacher and naturalist but recently he showed me a little collection of poems he has written, most based on his great love of nature. He claims that he wrote these poems to pass the time while proctoring classroom exams but it seems to me that they reflect a lifetime of experiencing nature at close hand. 

A walk in the woods with him is a true adventure. As he meanders among the trees and shrubs behind his log cabin in the Berkshires he points out, identifies, and discusses practically every plant and tree. He says his interest began in the garden of the back yard of our grandparents home in Woodside, NY. Of course, the woods had long disappeared in Woodside but the garden was an oasis. I also grew up in the same garden with its vegetables, flowers, grape vine, cherry tree and mysterious fig tree that came to life again each year after severe pruning, but I never developed his interest in nature especially in seemingly common forms like ferns and salamanders. It was a gift, a gift that is evident in the poems he has written like the one published above.