A Spring's Walk
by Michael Doyle

Someone once said something like a homily
That the worst misfortune is to have been happy.
To have lost this feeling becomes its own misery,
Born in our life as it's tragic inequality.

Once felt, the search begins for a remedy.
Where can be better than the woods, naturally?
There, among the trees, where birds often talk,
It is just the path to get lost within a walk.

The warblers know their songs of compassion, 
While the pileated woodpeckers know their fashion.
There's no need to render their notes into words,
The tune is enough without nouns or impeccable verbs.

Walking in mindfulness, finding peace along the way.
This is the best of a breezy, sunny sort of day.
Up in the air are clouds aloft in the sky of blue,
And just as suddenly as you were down, nothing bothers you.

In a splendid woodland, it is easy to find the wonderful.
It is everywhere, all around, in all that is beautiful.
It occurs to me that it is God's brilliant artistry
That I see beside the trails laid out as a floral tapestry.

If only we might learn again to listen as we peek,
We might learn that all animals know how to speak.
It's only that human beings have forgotten to listen,
We would see the world as it is with a clearer vision.

(c) May 14, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved