Gathering

I have been away for a while;
out gathering in the fields.
I have pulled up lots of good
stuff, by the roots, and have
put them in my basket over
my shoulder - the basket at my side.

I have been away from myself
collecting new foods, new stuff for
the journey. Having just gotten
back, I now know I was gone.

I am happy to be back, because now
I can begin again to bake the bread,
and light the candles, to drawl the
bath and to work the poems, to be
about the things I laid aside so I
could gather new foods; bring in new
stuff. This feeling is as refreshing and
surrounding as the two feet of snow,
drifting this way and that outside of
my home, outside of me.