Marie Luna

 

LET ME NOT INTRODUCE MY "SELF"

[In honor of teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, with gratitude]

Let me not introduce my "self"

Let me be the lichen on the rocks you sometimes notice

Before moving on to more interesting sights

Let me be the feathery plants in the water you briefly ponder

What is that? you wonder

I no longer want to be known or remembered

The burning youthful zeal to make a mark has faded

Like initials carved in the aspen as the dry bark shears off

I want to turn to powdery dust, separated from the core

Remember the elk teeth marks on the trees

A log of how high the snow was that winter

Chewing shrubbery and bark to survive

Did they make it through the lean times?

Remember bear cub claws cataloged in an aspen

Wonder about the fate of that bear

How many strawberries did she get to eat

That blissful summer with her mother?

My not self will be there, in the marks of the long gone.

-Marie Luna