Because we are human

This is a path in the Thorne Swift Nature Preserve in Emmet County, Michigan.

It connects to a real pond and then to Lake Michigan.

The Path

you tell me
there is a path
serene and strange
overgrown with free grass

but we have never sought it
never walked it
because we are human
and quite common

the pigeon says:
it connects to a real pond
the beetle says: it leads into trees

                A real pond, also in Emmet County.

but I believe 
childhood's footprints are there
and etched brick headstones
and crickets' low chirping
                                          1980.1

Gu Cheng
Nameless Flowers; Selected Poems of Gu Cheng; 
translated by Aaron Crippen. Braziller, 2005. page 32.out

While you are on the path, don't forget to look up; there may be Geese in the Air!

I got to thinking about Gu Cheng in the night; when I went to find him, he was on the shelf where I left him last year! Where are your childhood footprints??