Rigoberto González - The Strangers Who Find Me in the Woods

               after Thomas James

 

The strangers in the woods must mimic squirrels and crackle 

with the undergrowth. They must not flinch at the cruelty 

of breaking golden leaves with their feet, or of interring stones. 

And like any of these deciduous trees in autumn they must be 

 

stingy with shadow and move deceptively across the sludge. 

I listen to these strangers stirring with the evenings. I invent paths 

for them to the soft edge of the lake. Each descent is as graceful 

as a sink...