[running through tall grass — the grass is taller than expected] [legs know the rhythm before the mind does] [hill ahead — the climb begins in the bass] [each step higher — register rises with it] [lungs start to ask questions] [keep climbing — the lungs will figure it out] [summit: sudden wind — all frequencies open] [the view is the chord] [standing still at the top — the stillness is earned] [arms rise without permission] [the body knows what to do with joy] [descent: faster than the climb — momentum takes over] [almost falling — catching — almost falling — catching] [this is the rhythm section now] [feet find flat ground — the drums settle] [river ahead] [walking toward the sound before seeing the water] [the water has been singing this whole time] [we just got close enough to hear] [boots off — the taking off is its own ceremony] [first step in: cold — sharper than expected] [the cold is a brass stab] [second step: the body adjusts] [third step: water at the knees — commitment] [water at the waist — no turning back] [water at the chest — breath shortens] [full immersion — silence — then: everything muffled and new] [underwater: different song entirely] [surface break — gasping — the gasp is the downbeat] [floating now — surrender to the current] [the current decides — we agree] [river carries — we are carried] [arms spread — star-shaped — spinning slowly] [sky rotates above] [this is what trust sounds like] [rocks ahead — the river warns with white noise] [feet down — standing — water rushing past thighs] [climbing out onto sun-hot stones] [lying flat on warm rock — the heat enters] [heat and cold meeting in the body] [steam would rise if we were quieter] [we are quiet] [the rock holds us] [the rock has held others] [the rock will hold others after] [we are temporary — the rock doesn't mind] [clouds cross the sun — shadow — light — shadow — light] [the rhythm is not ours] [we borrow it] [standing again — the standing takes effort now] [good tired — the kind that lives in the legs] [forest edge ahead] [entering the trees — light changes — instruments shift to woodwinds] [canopy closes — green filter over everything] [footsteps soften on pine needles] [the quiet here is different — padded, held] [bird call — one note — waiting] [answer from somewhere else — two notes — found] [their conversation is the melody now] [we are accompaniment] [walking deeper — the path narrows] [branches brush shoulders — the forest touches back] [clearing opens sudden — meadow in the middle of woods] [light pours in — the pour is the crescendo] [tall grass again — but different grass — wilder] [deer at the far edge — frozen] [we freeze too] [two kinds of animal looking at each other] [the looking is the whole song] [she decides we are not danger] [she returns to eating] [we are accepted] [we did not know we needed to be accepted] [we did] [walking the meadow perimeter — staying at the edges] [the center belongs to her] [we are guests here] [guests walk the edges] [storm building in the west — the sky changes color] [purple-green — the color of waiting violence] [wind shifts — temperature drops in one breath] [the trees know — they start to move] [we should find shelter] [we don't] [we want to feel it] [first drops — fat and singular — each one a separate event] [then: the wall of rain arrives] [soaked in seconds — the soaking is total] [laughing — the laughing comes from somewhere old] [running now — but not away — just running] [running in rain — the most useless useful thing] [thunder cracks — the crack is in the chest] [lightning shows the world in negative] [we see everything — then nothing — then everything] [finding a tree — pressing against the trunk] [the tree takes the rain so we take less] [gratitude for bark] [gratitude for roots holding] [storm passes — they always pass] [dripping now — we are the percussion] [sun returns through breaking clouds] [steam rises from everything — the world exhales] [we exhale with it] [walking again — squelching — the squelch is funny] [we are children again — children squelch and laugh] [so we do] [field opens to cliff edge — ocean below] [the ocean has been doing this forever] [we just arrived] [sitting at the edge — legs dangling over] [vertigo flirts — we decline] [watching waves hit rocks — the rhythm is almost regular] [almost — that's the trick] [the almost-regular is why we keep watching] [waiting for the big one] [there — that one — spray reaches the clifftop] [salt on lips] [the ocean touched us] [we touched back by staying] [sun lowers — the light goes gold then orange then red] [shadow of self stretches long behind] [the shadow is taller than we'll ever be] [let it] [standing to leave — the leaving is part of it] [walking back in fading light] [body tired in every good way] [feet know the way even as eyes fail] [trust the feet] [the feet remember] [darkness comes — we let it] [stars appear — one then several then too many to count] [we stop counting] [lying down in grass]
