Not Lost

We’re not lost in the woods,
just walking
among trunks and tortuous branches,
where the trees’ chill breath gentles
young buds, leaf mulch and bark.

We are surrounded
by ancient guardians
and greening lungs of the earth.

Pale light streams
through leafless canopy
so dense there is no night or day,
only twilight, our way
lit by bright white stars
of wood anemones,
playing hide and seek between roots.

They are a mark of the old,
spreading slowly
through the primordial,
the first spring blooms
soaking up lukewarm sun
before new leaves unfurl and grab it all.

Kim M. Russell, 5th August 2025

Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

It’s Tuesday, which means that it’s Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub, where I am minding the bar for Lillian and sending her best wishes for a speedy recovery. Her prompt for August is one that is close to my heart, with an invitation to take a walk in the woods.

I enjoyed reading about Lillian’s introduction to the Japanese tradition of forest bathing. I too love anywhere that’s full of trees.

Lillian gives as an example, the well-known poem by Robert Frost: ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’.

Lillian would like us to write poems that somehow mention, are set in or motivated by the woods / forest. She has also given us permission to use the photos she has shared.

52 thoughts on “Not Lost”

    1. Thank you, Björn. If I can’t make it out to the woods, I have the garden, full of trees and wildlife, where I might not get lost but I can pretend to!

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  2. I love how it is old yet always bustling of new life and growth. Love the imagery of the twilight and white stars of wood anemones. This is my favorite part:

    We are surrounded
    by ancient guardians
    and greening lungs of the earth.

    Thanks for hosting Kim.

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  8. “our way
    lit by bright white stars
    of wood anemones,”

    wow the woods is dense indeed, Nice visit

    thanks for dropping by my blog

    much♡love

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  13. I am another who loves these lines:

    We are surrounded
    by ancient guardians
    and greening lungs of the earth.

    Going into the forest in the mountains above my home where some of the trees are 1000 years old, I am reminded that they guard the mountains and the animals that live there.

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    1. Thank you, Aaron. There are no mountains where I love and very few hills. Our landscape is pretty much flat. I would love to see the mountains where you love, especially 1000 year-old trees!

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  16. How much more to savor in a poem when observer becomes participant, so much closer to the “Pale light (which) streams / through leafless canopy / so dense there is no night or day, / only twilight, our way / lit by bright white stars / of wood anemones, / playing hide and seek between roots.”

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