Footsteps

While traveling along a velvet trail
Paws the ground with cloven hoof a white-tailed deer
With her thoughts unknown to me there is a truth
The footsteps of others are under my boots

What did the elder learn from the child?
Did they ask of them to look me in the eyes?
What did the coyote learn from the hare?
Were they intrepid or were they scared?

I saw more than I can tell and understood more than I saw,
Understood more than I saw and saw more than I can tell

Psithurism rhythm, on this timber trail
Shamanistic rising, symphonic exhale
Echoes of the forest spirits are whispering
“all who honor earth are welcome here”

If the center of everything is everywhere
Can I be still enough to listen
Can I imagine the depth of it all
And laugh at myself because I am just passing through

I saw more than I can tell and understood more than I saw
Understood more than I saw and saw more than I can tell

Underneath the canopy in the midst of it all,
Musing with the underbrush I almost miss the call
The doe waves me over to read what she’s spelled out
The hurt of one is the hurt of all
The hurt of one is the hurt of all
The hurt of one is the hurt of all