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05/18/10 - (2)
An Early-Evening Hike
Having traipsed forty-five minutes deep, Into the forest buffering the boys' camp from the lake, Savoring the finishing touches Sunrays, slanting, headlong, through the shady shadows, Are putting on the ferns, moss, the immense density itself,
I emerge at the shoreline, Not thirty yards from Lorber Point, Just in time to glimpse Nebagamon's lone patriarchal loon Bobbing in the water, before it lunges under, Slips into invisibility, to pursue its fishing and gathering.
I delay resuming my hike, on the unlikely prospect That the beautiful creature I've come to love, above all others, Just might surface in the pools washing my eyes. But this twilight's too-brief encounter will have to suffice As my heart's sole delight.
Within another quarter-hour, I exit the hushed grounds (Which, in a month, will be bustling With the business of boys honing their life skills, Learning to tolerate others' differences, Crave the scent of pine trees, the moon's reflections),
Having headed up the steep hill Leading from the mute waterfront, past the empty rec hall, Not far from the yet dormant Big House, Then out onto East Camp Nebagamon Drive, My intention being to end at my cabin, five minutes away.
Only, I stop beside a car idling in the middle of the road, Driver and passenger standing beside their open doors, Cautioning me that just a hundred feet away, Under an oak in the camp's rear woods, is a formidable presence: A mother black bear tending to her two tree-stuck cubs.
Seeing that large, daunting beast staring, glaring at me, I linger only long enough for my adrenaline to kick in, Urge my body to heed its emergent fear, Take flight, seek refuge out of sight. In what seems like a lifetime of seconds, I'm back at the cabin.
Now, seated out on a bench at dock's end, With a glass of wine, trying to calm my disturbed nerves, Envisioning those bears gamboling in the backyard, I begin to ruminate on my relationship with nature, How essentially insulated I've been from its real dangers.
Suddenly, the surrounding silence emanating from the lake Is broken by a continuous cascade of loons, A musical rhapsody of yodels, tremolos, and wails Inviting me into night's protective den. Not hesitating, I enter the shelter of its deepening serenity.
05/18/10 - (2)
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