Girl Scout in the Woods

 Lillian is hosting Poetics in the dVerse Poets Pub ~ it's about Forests!! 

[ Sending healing energy Lillian's way ]

David Bruyndonckx ~ Unsplash

Twelve / soft in the bones

but braver than I knew

a borrowed sleeping bag

zippered tight / my cocoon

spread over pine needles 

resting on damp earth

A circle of girls / not quite strangers

not quite sisters / until the camp fire was lit

crackling like a living thing / never fully gone

burning low and steady / counselors laughing

speaking in voices that made safety feel easy

like it had always been there

In morning smoke / pancakes crisped at edges

sweetened with syrup and smoky joy  

i didn't ask what lay beyond the woods

i didn't need to / it would wait 

it would always wait

And when i was ready 

i would walk into the forest

not fearful / not quite fearless

but filled with something strong

just beginning to name itself