This poem is excerpted from Embers & Amber, a collection of poetry by Candice Landau that explores love, loss, memory, and becoming. Note: some spacing has been stripped due to WordPress formatting issues.
Morning Walk
I walked away alone this time
And in my separation I felt happiness.
A silver birch that looked like silk
A shaded path drawn around me.
The sliding crunch beneath my shoes
The wind that stuck high in the poplars.
Fizzing, dancing, humming things
Floating on dew-lit grass.
And not so long away alone
The air began to feel fresh.
The wood pigeons to sound like songbirds
The open fields to feel my own.
A distant bark, fading problems
My mind at ease in sunlit space.
If this can be my daily worship
My happiness and satisfaction —
I need no one
And no one me.
