You gotta be careful. Pay attention to what's in the bushes. Check your back-trail. Don't just stomp through the woods, blithe in the knowledge of your own goodness. The woods don't care if you're good. Good isn't really a part of nature you know. Morality is a human concept and out here there aren't a lot of humans. And the humans that are here are a helluva lot closer to the wild than the civilized. You gotta be careful.
Just the other day I saw a squirrel. Cute little grey squirrel. The kind that packs his chubby cheeks with nuts and saves up for the winter. Cute li'l guy.He sat on a rock in the sun, happily chowing down on the meat and bones of another squirrel. Maybe that other squirrel had been unkind. Maybe he was just too slow and hunger was in the air. You gotta pay attention to what's in the bushes.
They told me it was all going to be alright. We would all come together. It would all be good. Again. But while I can be fooled, I've been too much in the woods to be fooled by this. It's always there, quiet, deep underneath. In Sweden they take care of their own. They help the less fortunate from other places. They work and they learn and they do civilization really well. But down there somewhere in those Swedes, under the compassion, the sophistication, the enlightenment, somewhere there in the land of the Nobel Peace Prize, lives the soul of a Norseman carving the blood-eagle out of a monk's back. You gotta check your back trail.
Sometimes walking through the woods you can feel it. Not exactly malevolence, that's a very human thing, more like opportunistic, expectant watchfulness. It's not just an animal or a wildling human. It's all of it. The woods, the animals the humans. Everything out there in the woods is primarily interested in its own survival. The woods as a whole, as a system, as an ecology is far beyond willing to sacrifice you for its own good. You. The pinnacle of civilization, of caring understanding, of enlightenment, of humanity, you are intrinsically an offering to the survival of the system. Don't just stomp through the woods blithely.
You're only hope is to become what you fear. No, don't jump into that raging Genghis Khan mantle and rage like a fool. Become the watcher in the bushes. Embrace the wild and let the Genghis-ragers be wary. Don't give in to the wild, the Norse carver, the wildling, but acknowledge that it lives within you. Acknowledge it is there, available for when the wild seeks to destroy you. Be secure in that feeling, there below the surface. Maybe buried deep, deep, but maybe not all as far below the surface as your veneer of civilization had you thinking. You gotta be careful. Pay attention to what's in the bushes. Check your back-trail. Don't just stomp through the woods, blithely.
But while you're doing all that, let the woods, the wild, the watchers, wildlings, ragers and carvers be careful. Let them pay attention and check their back-trail. Let the madness be wary of you.
Just the other day I saw a squirrel. Cute little grey squirrel. The kind that packs his chubby cheeks with nuts and saves up for the winter. Cute li'l guy.He sat on a rock in the sun, happily chowing down on the meat and bones of another squirrel. Maybe that other squirrel had been unkind. Maybe he was just too slow and hunger was in the air. You gotta pay attention to what's in the bushes.
They told me it was all going to be alright. We would all come together. It would all be good. Again. But while I can be fooled, I've been too much in the woods to be fooled by this. It's always there, quiet, deep underneath. In Sweden they take care of their own. They help the less fortunate from other places. They work and they learn and they do civilization really well. But down there somewhere in those Swedes, under the compassion, the sophistication, the enlightenment, somewhere there in the land of the Nobel Peace Prize, lives the soul of a Norseman carving the blood-eagle out of a monk's back. You gotta check your back trail.
Sometimes walking through the woods you can feel it. Not exactly malevolence, that's a very human thing, more like opportunistic, expectant watchfulness. It's not just an animal or a wildling human. It's all of it. The woods, the animals the humans. Everything out there in the woods is primarily interested in its own survival. The woods as a whole, as a system, as an ecology is far beyond willing to sacrifice you for its own good. You. The pinnacle of civilization, of caring understanding, of enlightenment, of humanity, you are intrinsically an offering to the survival of the system. Don't just stomp through the woods blithely.
You're only hope is to become what you fear. No, don't jump into that raging Genghis Khan mantle and rage like a fool. Become the watcher in the bushes. Embrace the wild and let the Genghis-ragers be wary. Don't give in to the wild, the Norse carver, the wildling, but acknowledge that it lives within you. Acknowledge it is there, available for when the wild seeks to destroy you. Be secure in that feeling, there below the surface. Maybe buried deep, deep, but maybe not all as far below the surface as your veneer of civilization had you thinking. You gotta be careful. Pay attention to what's in the bushes. Check your back-trail. Don't just stomp through the woods, blithely.
But while you're doing all that, let the woods, the wild, the watchers, wildlings, ragers and carvers be careful. Let them pay attention and check their back-trail. Let the madness be wary of you.
I love this so, so much old man! The part about accepting your wild and being aware of it for tough times, especially.
ReplyDeleteXxoo, Amanda
Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI hope it helps. :)
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