medicine woman

don't come to the forest
in search of me,
don't come here
looking for the raw,
the primal, the wild,
for I'm not
that medicine woman,
gathering herbs
for every sickness
you find,
speaking to angels,
to be messiahs
for your life,
for your tribe,

if you lose your way,
and still come to me,
I will take you
to the clear pool
in the bosom
of this ancient forest,
which holds the mystery
of all dis-ease,
where if you dare look in,
you will find,
you staring back at you,
in the stillness
of everything that you believe
is and is not you.