------The Pilgrimage------

After day's end
and night falls,
a silver glow surrounds 
the oak and pine
and wakens me 
as reflections 
from a darkened mirror
while distant echos 
from past generations 
congregate slowly
filling the air 
with distinctive rhythms

Time and distance
relent to instinct
and perserverance
as the forest darkens
and is endowed 
by a spiritual eclipse
of celestial wings,
a flight embellished
by sonnet and song 
floating against the clouds
and hillsides

Soon their ancestoral retreat
will reverberate with joy
and dance
as the greater sandhill cranes
celebrate the completion
of an annual pilgrimage, 
possessing no remorse
of the past 
or the present
only jublilation of life
as an envious mankind observes 
yet cannot emulate
despite his self-acclaimed wisdom