Radiance

I am following the ephemeral footprints of a lion

It is ahead of me

It went this way

On a northerly breeze I smell the perfume of his mane

If I close my eyes

I can hear its brain

Thinking in broad strokes that leave no tangle

Drop easily

Fall gently

I hunt, but not to capture

Instead

Simply to walk

Where it has been

Courage

Depth

Dignity

Grace

Splendour that spreads like the rising sun at dawn

Alight but not burning

I am hunting a lion

To see how it walks

That I may watch my bare feet

Becoming enveloped by the in-falling trickle of sand

Heat from his still warm paw

Radiating up my spine

Drifting down my shoulder blade

Heat

I know no human that inspires me as much

As the thought of nature morphing, playing, shifting, straying

Into the brow of a lion

Golden eyes filling bright

Watching

Life

Passing

Rising

Again and again

*and it brings me a kind of peace to think out of that space, instead of the insanity of humanity striving for what? Ha. Nothing. I watch the wild kangaroos at dawn in the bottom paddocks, how they turn to face the rising sun, the chorus of birds that only begins, as the sun rises – apart from the Willy Wag tail that could sing at 12am as easily as at dawn.

The whole of nature pauses with bated breath, seeming to sigh as it rises

The sun

And it’s a peaceful ritual, that resets all of us. To walk in the footsteps of beauty, to swim in the sea at dawn, or just to sit in awe. I hope I never lose it.

It is my greatest love.

11 thoughts on “Radiance

    • I wish I could see wolves and bears and lions Lynn – what an amazing country, our larger wild things are mostly gentle, apart from crocodiles, I definitely don’t want to walk in a crocodile’s footsteps. You would understand the analogy I was drawing though, the sun, nature, every morning is the chance to return to a wilder more natural state, at least before the workday begins to mess with our rhythms.

  1. Hope work is going ok! And I love the comparison to the Lion. We all have – in the light and power of the sun – the ability to achieve greatness and nobility the way that Lions have been historically depicted. Mike

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