Let the Forest Find You

"Whose Trees?" by robin peterson

LOST

 by

David Wagoner

Stand still.  

The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost.  

Wherever you are is called Here,

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,

Must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breathes.  Listen.  It answers,

I have made this place around you.

If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,

You are surely lost.  Stand still. 

The forest knows Where you are.  

You must let it find you.

David Wagoner is a professor emeritus at the University of Washington, where he has taught since 1954.  

His poem, quoted above, was inspired by being lost in the Hoh rainforest.