Forest Rhythms
by Ed Keenan, Author of Nature &  the Southwest

If one goes from the hot desert floor, up 8000 feet, to the cool pine forests of the San Jacinto Mountains, they pass through various life zones of flora and fauna, in a relatively short distance. Maybe you have backpacked and reached the forest meadows and streams by hiking one of the mountain trails, or maybe you roughed it by taking the tram. With a certain refreshing tired, you bed down in the pine needles under a big Jeffery Pine. This poem is inspired by that overnight experience in the San Jacinto forest.

Forest Rhythms

On the cooing of band-tailed pigeons,
dusk settles the stillness softly.
A pack of coyotes yodel far below
and a chickadee whistles from a roost,
a final note,
like a chorus baton
closes with the last refrain.

The blooming shadows of moonlight
spread across the forest floor,
woven by the limbs and branches,
and the glimmer of a twisting stream
parts the vale,
like a silver ribbon
pulled through the darkness.

I spread my roll beneath a Jeffery pine
in the litter of spongy needles,
and the faint aroma of pie alamode
wafts out from the bark of this giant.
The air is pure
and sleep is sweet,
resurrecting forest souls.

And when a woodpecker taps the tree
in early light before sun up,
I rise to the auburn glow of dawn,
and then the early rays of sun smear
the treetops,
and the verve renews
the biorhythms of the forest.

Ed Keenan © 10-06

COW CHIP/COWBOY POETRY: For a poem, click here.
Cow Chip Poetry - Lies, Lingo and Lore by Southwest Cowboy Poet, Ed Keenan. This is an entertaining collection of cowboy poetry with an extensive 'Glossary of Cowboy Lingo'. Great gift - perfect for trail rides, cookouts, campouts. Contact Arroyo Press, (888) 784-8282, PO Box 1028, Vista CA, 92085. www.SouthwestBlend.com/cowchippoetry