Jeannie E. Roberts: "Attend Your Bounty"

Shrouded in fog,
along this narrow loam,

redwoods rise,
hundreds of feet high,

some home to marbled
murrelet and leatherleaf

fern. Coastal giants
crown these mountains,

grace gullies, give refuge
to black bear, to spotted owl.

Where long ago
the Tolowa thrived,

carved canoes, speared
salmon, honored this forest,

this canopy, gave thanks,
so you with your bounty,

can take refuge in knowing,
here, now, like the Tolowa,

the present provides
when you honor

your journey, listen
to its voice, give thanks,

and attend each day
as if it were

your only.

"Attend Your Bounty" by Jeannie E. Roberts. Text as published in Nature of It All (Finishing Line Press, 2013). Presented here by poet submission.

Art credit: "Redwoods in the Fog," photograph by Don Bain.