Green Man Walking
by Sebastian Matthews

There will always be sky days: intervals
through which we stroll, light-footed
and easy; lifetimes that fill up with cloud
expanse, the pull back the curtain
to blue, bluster, and breeze — autumn
fully here, a current of winter in the air.

Then there are, too, the ground days:
those downtrodden, dark and damp spans
you trudge through, deadheaded, as if
legs were sodden logs, your head a block
of cement in the current, tree roots
pulled from the sludge at every step.

Worse, still, the empty ghost days:
numb corridor afternoons, uninhabited;
shadows and light, flimsy blinds fluttering,
no one home. Trance to the store for milk
two days this side of souring. Litany of lists,
want ads. Lost hours stalking the cage.

I want to be a Green Man walking.
To bring sky and ground with me
as I move in my life, not dragging them
behind in a storm wake, but carrying
their elements within, a whole season
of life in my diurnal blood, astride the day

and in time — feet gnarled tree roots,
head frosted with turning leaves, heart
pumping out the morning’s birdcall, breath
a breeze after a day of deadening heat —
to come to the sacred table of the world
(avid, grateful) and share in its bounty.