To Lose One's Way in the Woods- A Sestina

To Lose One's Way in the Woods

I wander quietly through the wild,

just barely lit by a setting sun.

Its light filters weakly through the trees

as I tread a well-worn path,

so caught up in my silent thought

I fail to notice the pursuing dark.

Quite suddenly all has fallen dark

as the night pounces, fierce and wild.

I become consumed by a passing thought

that never again might I see the sun.

I stumble once, and lose the path,

nothing around me but judging trees.

With foreboding I wander through the trees,

which loom and leap out from the dark.

I fear I may not reclaim my path;

I fear the beasts here, cruel and wild.

They lurk in a world that hides from the sun,

once much like me, now stripped of thought.

I collapse to my knees with but one thought

that my life could now lie within these trees,

never again touched by the sun.

For what else is there but the dark?

Maybe I always belonged in the wild,

instead of walking that ugly path.

Yet now I struggle to recall my path,

its hazy memory escaping thought.

I suddenly fear the pressing wild

making me a beast within its trees.

I have to fight, fight! against the dark,

I must not ever forget my sun!

And there it is, the struggling sun,

weakly lighting an unsteady path!

I leap up and run, fleeing the dark

before its whispers control all thought.

Now I may still be shrouded by leering trees,

But at least I’m not lost, beastly, or wild.

If ever you lose your path in the dark,

don’t let the wild steal away your thought.

There’s always a sun beyond the trees.