SOLITUDE AND GRACE

I will wander

into wilderness

to find myself.

I will leave behind

my accoutrements,

memories of medals,

of past applause

and accolades,

accomplishments that

warranted degrees

and diplomas

portending future

successes. I like

who I am, who

I have become. No,

I love myself, and that

is my greatest achievement,

the acme most men

are blind to as they

mistake wealth for worth.

Most would say

I will be lonely,

but they are wrong,

because I will always be

with my best friend ever,

my real self. And I will

share my joy with

squirrels and rabbits

and deer, with bushes

and broken branches

and brush, with rills

and rivulets and rivers,

with rising and setting

suns and countless

stars coruscating in

night's sky. I will say

prayers to piles of pine

and sycamore limbs

that once were live,

but now make monuments

I worship. I am at one

with all I prize. My eyes,

even when they are closed,

see their beauty. I know

I will be blessed forever.

I lie on my bed, Earth,

and wait to join all

in solitude and grace.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

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