Wild Goose Trail
by Jeff Burt
Burdock, buckthorn, white cormus,
rosehips, vaccinium, red edible currants,
white elderberry, arronia, chokeberries,
such abundant berries
reaching over and into the trail
begging to be brushed and knocked
to the earth to begin transformation
or picked and eaten to fall in scat
aided by bugs and erosion to plant
in the soft dark earth and yield.
I must not pull my coats
from their branches, avoid,
must wade deeply, rustle, touch.
PAINTING: Elderberry Bush by Konstantin Yuon (1907).
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Staying on a trail and preserving habitat in its primitive form (as opposed to conserved form) is respectful, but at times you see items in nature begging to be touched and jostled as it is part of their renewing cycle.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jeff Burt lives in the central coast of California. He has contributed to Heartwood, Williwaw Journal, Red World Journal, and many others.
Visit him at jeff-burt.com.
Silver Birch Press 
Here our very disturbance can be part of the cycle…but gently, with respect instead of heavy machinery. Lovely poem.