“For those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.”

This little wooded lot

holds a spell over me.

Old alder shade

on a hot afternoon

dapples the playful

stream teasing tips of

unraveled fern fronds

nodding up and down,

I along with them,

lulled into wonder

by the sound of

mockingbird songs

and wind in the firs.

I sit within sight of

such remarkable works:

what nests, what webs,

what mole excavations!

What a beaver dam masterpiece:

its stripped sticks stitched

together so ingeniously–

just as I am to this

land and it to me.