It's Enough to Know

It's enough to know: 

my first walk of the day is earliest enough that it's still hours away from sunrise, dark, with the paths often difficult to make out clearly. I'm long familiar with every route that weaves through my neighboring woods, my feet sensing each bump and contour the path offers and there's little need for me to use an artificial light. I love to make my way through the dark, allowing my eyes to adjust and only seeing what the natural light of these hours permits me to see. Still, I know that there is much I'm missing, unseen wildlife scampering off into the brush before my eyes have a chance to catch them. My neighborhood has plenty of fox and raccoons, deer and rabbits. A rare coyote or two prowl through the woods, and owls that often alert me to their presence with their calling back and forth. There are beavers at my pond that slap their tails against the water as I pass, always just past my line of vision. And last year we had a bear pass through on his way to finding a wilder and more permanent home.  

most of this I never see, let alone capture with a photo. 

but it's enough to know they're out there. 

existing.

I do carry a flashlight, although I'm reluctant to use it, preferring the natural light to guide my eyes. My practice is one of least disturbance and in this way I know that anything I see is truly gifted to me, a slight revelation of the mystery that lurks just past my vision. Really, it's enough to sometimes catch a stir within the brush, guessing at the presence by the sound of its flight. Or catching the faint musk of deer that must have passed just moments before my arrival. 

not everything is meant to be seen. 

it's enough to know they're out there, remaining as a mystery, wild, even in the midst of my suburban neighborhood. If I'm fortunate, patient, sometimes I'm gifted with a glimpse, a privilege that makes even the most familiar sight a rare and precious treasure. My walks are meant to add to a collection of memories, no, there's something deeper at play that I've only recently discovered - that I'm a participant here, part of a synchronistic event that demands for my surrender, not forcing my own wishes upon the natural world. These walks help me relearn that I belong here, but only on the terms offered by these early, and still dark hours. 

I see only what is meant to be seen. 

yet it's enough to know that I belong here. 

~

Peace, Eric