A Reflection or The Way the Wilds Think

What have you been working on?

By Andrew R. Duckworth

As time runs on fumes,
My knowledge of it beckons
Me to move more than I have
In earlier days. What good is
The time that is left if it
Is not taken advantage of?
There is still much work
Left to do concerning
Self, preparation-
Meditation on the holy.

In the backyard of my in-laws,
I see white-tailed deer along
The ridge- a few bucks, several
Does and then their young, all
In a slow moving line as they
Graze on the overgrowth. On my
Side of the creek, several turkey
Hens peck away near some tree
Roots. It’s quiet. Nothing bothers
Them. They’re going along as they
Always do, unimpeded. I cannot
Accurately say it’s a ‘peaceful’
Scene. I’m unaware of the concerns
Of the wild. I do not know their
Fears other than I know they
Have them. One quick and clumsy
Move from me, and the scene would
Be chaos- like mother and child
Desperate to flee a war zone.

And to think several thousand
Years ago, humanity wasn’t so
Removed from such wild nature,
Fleeing from large cats, moving
From here to there, Avoiding,
Then chasing megafauna, worrying
Over our next meals. We have
Become too comfortable sitting
Back in our cushioned chairs,
Much like I’m doing now, staring
At a picture of our past and
Thinking, “how quaint.”

We have invented new wild nature,
The sort that looks at each other
With skepticism rather than
Kinship, the sort that crafts
Guns and rockets and things that
Go “boom.”

Lord, never let that be my nature.