don't look for me here

don't look for me
when I go silent,
for you may not
find me here -
where there are only dams
and white water,
turning wheels
for grey homes,
closing in on hills
they can never climb,

my spirit
doesn't belong here.

don't look for me here;
if you remember
the silence,
you would know
where to find me,

don't look for me here;
come to the forests
as the wild spirit you are,
not as a tourist
with look-out eyes,

and then perhaps
you will find me,

in the fall of leaves
upon the earth's
broad shoulders,
in the skin of trees
stroked by the fingers
of a doting wind,
in the smell of life
stirring with a freshness
that feeds every pore,
in the wildness of songs
played in the silence
of an enthralled heart,

that's where you'll find me,
when you stop looking for me.