The Forest of Peace

“The Forest of Peace”

I walk through the woods with peace.
The trees reach toward the sky like hands,
The wind gently caresses the trees with ease.
Brown leaves crunch underfoot like tissue paper,
Birds sing in their branches;
Songs of sweet melody and serenity.
I look up to the sky with a smile.

A single leaf slowly floats down,
Twisting, swaying, waltzing, and sailing.
It gently brushes my head on its journey down,
It settles silently on the ground.
The wind picks up and more leaves sail down,
More pass me all around.
Piles grow bigger, all so dry.
The birds stop singing and I don’t know why.
A rush of wind pushes my back,
Urging me to move and not look back.

A fire springs into the trees,
It quickly burns all the leaves.
Brittle, brown and dry,
The leaves slowly curl up and die.
Crack!
A limb falls in flames,
I walk through the woods of peace,
Seeing my work has been released.

—Anthony Rhoads