My thoughts spread
like the perception of watersheds,
they sink, gather, coalesce, and run,
and I know that too fast a flow
will pull away soil, though also
expose some ancient rocks,
carve an abiding way,
and I see
that any engineering
needs a light touch  –
humility, and much listening,
and honoring geology at hand
so all the plants
can give as they’re designed to –
holding soil, or decompacting,
pioneering, and allowing
the slow sprout of trees
that may take centuries to mature ,
for which we now create
conditions to begin.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 21, 2022