I heard singing…
Out wandering in the autumn woods
on an old dirt road with no houses
following a brook through quiet forest
where mossy stone walls mark the
ghost boundaries of farms that once were
The brook fell over a waterfall into a
deep ravine where I stopped to watch leaves
shimmer in that golden-hour slant of light
that illuminates the world from within
stunning all my worries to silence
A raven flew over calling a greeting to another
raven that answered from a distance and then from
the shimmer of light and the drum of water crossing
stone a song rose from the land (I kid you not) I heard
singing like a prayer that came from the ground
Whose relations left a song in this land? Not mine
I reckon, mine never walked here before. And not the
wall builders whose labors cleared and divided and not
the songs of sheep or cattle who grazed meadows here
until the forest grew back to make the borders obsolete
How far has this song traveled through light
across time to reach the ears of a person stopping
for no reason, listening for the stories ravens tell
and the waters falling? It feels in my bones like a
mending for future generations is passing through
This song, a ceremony dancing deep in the woods
since before stones were dug and laid for walls
an earth protection rooted in Grandmother hopes
today is the day a person with ears to hear bent closer
awed by the blessing still singing through the land
~ Dina Stander
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