This is a wonderful poem for the extended moment we are all living in. David Wagoner’s poem below begs to be read slowly and contemplatively. I have purposely double-spaced the lines to help with that. If you have not read the explanation for Lectio Poetica, I encourage you to read it here before reading Wagoner’s poem. If you don’t have time now, come back to it later when you do. It’s better not to rush. Spend at least 10 minutes with it, more if you are able. Read it multiple times. Let the word, phrase, or sentence that most wants to find you, find you.

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and the 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 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
From Collected Poems 1956-1976 © Indiana University Press

* The Season of Creation, running from September 1 to October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, brother to all life forms especially the most vulnerable, is being celebrated more and more as a liturgical season by Christian communities of faith.