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Here at the iron fort in North Wood
remembering the shortest day of the year
in the cathedral of Sequoia trees.
A dancing Robin, Crows cawing,
a Squirrel leaping forward keep company
in this sacred dark hall.
Lighting a candle and three sticks of myrrh incense
on a tree stump, now a composition of moss,
fallen leaves and crawling life.
It is the perfect place to say thank you to this wood
for the silence, the beauty and the shelter it offered us
during the year of forest bathing
with beautiful people coming to be
in the tall forest hub: walking, lying, singing, playing
sitting in meditation, making offerings.
Like this offering today,
around the candle, brown chestnut leaves
each leaf a letting go within this year.
The loss of dear Prapto’s presence on Earth,
of being able to walk less,
the loss of many lives in wars,
of a plan close to the heart,
of friendships moving on,
of climate change.
Like the bare trees here learning to let the leaves shed,
allowing frost, rain and wind to touch the bare skin,
being close to loss, allowing the tears, nursing the pain
as surrendering is the deeper breath, the release
and the mulch for fresh growth.
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