Cachuma

When my soul leaves 

to be here forever, 

I’ll be just as quiet 

as all of the others 

that stay in this place, too,

just as glad 

as they are 

to offer their silence, 

add nothing at all 

to the blue lichen wears 

in moonlight, 

to the mother bird 

gathering twigs in her beak, 

bringing warmth 

to what no one loves more,

or the abundance each root 

draws up from this soil 

to open each leaf, 

the same profusion 

that finds me

in only this place, 

takes leave of the grounding 

that holds 

the rest of the world, 

but not here, 

not Cachuma.

Lake Cachuma, June 22, 2020.

Lizard friend at Lake Cachuma, June 21, 2020.

Lake Cachuma, June 22, 2020.