actually, firs/resinous odour of pine needles/moss
muffling the tread.

swift mustalids/stir the leaf litter
ardent hope/crash lands. Later
light snow/its burred crystals/
buffeted in rude breezes/to swirl and spin
restlessly/before finding forest floor.

in olden days/bears,
wolves shrieking/in startled night.

it's only Wilderness if it can murder/
holding human life/in scant regard.

deer trails and fox-path through the thicket/
the hot mammal flank/the rise and fall of breath/
the tempo of the heart/quickening
with fear.

ingress to green myth/dryads
detach supple limbs from silver birch/
laughter/like music/dainty
in delighted air.