forest bathing

A Villanelle Walk

lillian17 Comments

Come walk this path with me
through wooded quiet calm.
It will lend its peace to you.

Canopy of green leaves gleam
as sunlight filters through.
Come walk this path with me.

Morning’s quiet coolness
will ease and soothe the soul.
It will lend its peace to you.

Some call it forest bathing,
five senses engaged in meditation.
Come walk this path with me.

Immerse ourselves knowing
Earth’s beauty nurtures best.
It will lend its peace to you.

Escape the city’s frenzy
find nature’s solemnity.
Come walk this path with me,
it will lend its peace to you.

NAPOWRIMO Day 22. Prompt is to write a Villanelle. Photo from a vacation we took some years ago.

Villanelle: A French verse form consisting of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain. The first and third lines of the first stanza repeat alternately in the following stanzas. And these two lines form the final couplet in the quatrain. It’s a poetic sudoku!

Meandering

lillian27 Comments

Listen carefully, my love
as we walk on cool stone slabs
curving through the woods.
Naturalists laid this path
so others could forest bathe,
basking in its mesmerizing calm.

Leaves rustle in cooling breeze.
Spring waters gurgle
somewhere beyond the trees.
Yesterday’s rains
still moisten fern fronds,
brightening their myriad shades of green.

White-breasted nuthatches
flit between branches.
Their low-whistled notes
accompany our slow meandering pace.
Hand in hand we walk through serenity,
our hearts, our spirits, melding into one.


Written for OLN Thursday at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today, I’m hosting the pub and folks are free to post any poem of their choosing OR write a poem inspired by one of two photos I’ve provided, the above being one.

NOTE: and if you’d like to see many of our poets in action, come join us LIVE on Saturday morning, August 17th from 10 to 11 AM New York time. Click HERE, and then click on the link given for Saturday’s session. You’ll be connected to audio and video for our live session. Feel free to stop by, just to watch and listen, OR, if you’re so inclined, to read aloud any poem of your choosing. We’re a very friendly bunch. The more the merrier!