A Country Lane

I’d made up my mind to it, 
I’d stay in and read.
But a light shower, earlier, 
had imbued the woods
with a peculiar sweetness
that drifted in through the open window
and tempted me out of doors.

And now, with the mountains 
reflecting that last slanting light
that dusts everything in gold,
there was no help for it;
I felt an enchantment
that encouraged me to 

venture to deeper realms,

deeper far and more mysterious
than my favorite armchair would have allowed.

I paused at an opening in the trees,

where a russet needled path
beckoned inward with an irresistible charm.

Under a canopy of branches,
a tiny bird flitted back and forth,
as if to guide me on my way;
and, on either side, forget-me-nots nodded,
sprinkled there, no doubt, 
from a truant elf’s watering can.

A curve ahead...
and I took the strange fancy that at its end
I would find a thatched cottage
with a chubby “Hansel” peeking ‘round the corner.

Ah, such is the magical quality of a little lane
winding its way through the woods.
I will return often to wander here,
where dreams and reality
merge and meet
in the moment.

© Melody Rhodes
  

 

Awards & Publication
Grand Prize Winner, The Sword Review, 2005
First Place, Tickled by Thunder, 2002

Years ago, on a wander through the woods at Lemon Creek, up the Slocan, I discovered a winding path and followed it through the woods, wondering what secrets I would find at its end.

This poem also appears at Wikinut and AllPoetry