Upon entering the forest
Morning poem - 3rd Feb 2025
I write in the mornings at the moment, mostly. There are few days on which I have the luxury of writing later - there’s parenting, of course, and a lot of work to do for Clarion and Feral Angels Press. This one is part of a series I’m working on - different ways of saying the same thing. Expect more along these lines in the next collection, Molok.
Of course, this poem could equally be about a woman. I've aimed it at men this time, though. Spread it around if you think it’s got any value.
Upon entering the forest
Tom Hirons
A man goes into the forest and says
I know you / I miss you / I was
once here with you
and he listens to the singing
and the way the ground beats
and crackles and hums
and if he can bear it
he allows his heartbreak out
the black pearl of his loneliness
he’s carried all his life
The thin world will soon call him back but
for a moment he might crack open
and hear the forest roar.
His life will never be the same
He cannot go back to sleep
The pearl in his chest becomes a fire
It was the other day
after the fire burnt
with my beloved,
That my sobs came and
cracked my heart
open.
Wrenching, deep, primal
they sounded not of me.
They both frightened
and held me
tight.
And then
with their passing
and in her arms
I was enveloped in
stillness.
—
Thank you Tom for you ever beautiful, true and soul shifting words. Big love.
Perfect moment for me to read this, as I listen to the rain in the forest tent where I live, having just been out in the night to relieve myself. While out there, I thought about a root I put one foot on, its tree (who I love), and all the other redwoods interconnected at the roots. When I came back in, I thought about how I’m usually less lonely here than among humans, and then I saw this poem. I go back to the thin world as little as possible.