Wandering Poem by Mike Tonkin

Wandering
Aimlessly amongst the trees
And the wet decaying leaves.
Silence.
Just the dripping wetness,
Stark life dying
A quick unknowing death.
Nothing growing
Life suspended by the winter cold.
Only my moist breath
Hanging in the still air
Marks my passing,
Lingering behind me
As if waiting for orther life,
And then despairing
Falling on the dead leaves
As if to revive them
And restore to them their beauty.

I close my eyes
And staring blindly at the cruel sky
I will the greeness to return
The warmth, the scents of life.
My taut muscles ache,
The blood beats loudly in my ears
Drowning the silence.
I sink into the brown softness of it
Beneath my feet.
Even the knowledge
Of dormant life around me
Cannot alleviate my misery

I turn and walk away
Hurrying quickly to the road,
And the sound of my feet
Upon the oil flecked surface
Comfort me..