Lost in the Forest

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A SHORT STORY

What do you do when you’re lost in a forest?

David Wagoner, in his poem Lost, imagines a conversation between an elder and a little boy. When I came across its wisdom this week, it made me stop and pause.

In the poem, the elder says:

Stand still.
The trees ahead and 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 poem ends with a simple line:

The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

Which leaves me wondering: what is trying to find me in this moment?

A POEM

“Lost” by David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and 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 a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

Grateful,

Michael