"This Path"

(photo by: Shannon)
i don't know how this path will lead,
though i can make it back.
i don't know all i now believe;
i know the faith i lack.

i'm walking in the woods at night
as brambles and briars creep in;
the boldest effort i can make
is walk this path that bends.

the voices of beings, chirp and chant
consuming hopes and fears.
i'll carry on if i keep pace
and walk where the path disappears.

by Wm. Rieppe Moore

Dear Nearly: Part 14 "Peachtree Rock"

yesterday, on my way to court for a traffic violation in Swansea, South Carolina (which i ended up being dismissed for) i passed a Peachtree Rock Nature Preserve. i eventually persuaded myself to pull over and take the 3/4 mile hike in to see what this 'preserve' was all about. Nearly, i didn't consider it a legitimate wilderness at first, and it did look slightly maligned but as i traveled further in it appeared more and more primitive. the trail was pocked with hardwoods and gooseberry bushes (of which i collected a piece hickory bark as well as fern and berry sprigs), which led to a jaw-dropping anomaly. as the trail pushed ahead wending and winding it paused at a land mass juxtaposed from arcadia on the side of a hill in the middle of the forest. it was cone-like in shape with the point struck twenty yards in the earth and the rest of it opening and rising to accompany the trees. with it, my spirit rose to join the masses in the sky. and to think, Nearly, i almost missed this subliminal experience...