Nurture your Nature

Kim Williams

Look up: blocks of rock, lichen splotched,
orange and chartreuse.

Chirp of a bird one can't see, don't recognize.

A bevy of trim bodies running west.

Brown wings flitting along the edge of the river.

Rest: a trickle cascades through crevices crossing the old railroad bed.

White berries and red twigs of the dogwood spread
on one side, pussy willow on the other.

A side path diverges, descends into a canopy
mottled with green twigs and brighter moss.

Look below: the bark trail, the bare stones,
paths of pine needles and cones.

There is life here at dawn and at dusk. By day, it hides from the sun
and us.

Look up at the scree.
Know that what is thrust up to the sky
must forever tumble down to the sea.

Kim Williams nature trail begins at the NE corner of U. Montana and follows the old Milwaukee Road east at the base of mt. Sentinel in Missoula, Montana. Written August 26/27 2008.

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