Self-Portrait with Padden Creek

This creek meanders
through my life now.
I walk the trail along
creek nearly every day
without apprehension,
seeking sustenance and peace.
Tension dissipates.
The creek’s strip of woods —
less than a city block wide,
I’d guess — sustains
teeming birdlife, wildlife,
and surprise encounters.
The creek whispers secrets
I can’t comprehend.
I hope for comprehension,
know a stream of green,
an oasis and refuge,
an antidote to the city,
the city’s rush, currents
of petrocarbon particulates.
Breathing, trees furnish
air fresh and scrubbed.
This creek meanders
through my life now.

~*~

Andrew Shattuck McBride
NaPoWriMo 2014 ~ Day 11