Ryan Bayless
The Forest's Daughter

Rise to meet the sun
dancing on water.
I tell everyone I see
about the forest’s daughter.

I followed her this far—
a tree bends near the stream.
A leaf drops slowly down
like sleep into a dream.

Make a sort of net
to catch the river in.
A finger lace is best
for such a subtle skin.

She comes and goes as one
who knows where moments meet.
The letter that she left me
still lying at my feet.

The wind shifts on the plain—
the waking of a storm.
The ocean to the west
becomes another form.

<< return to the Table of Contents for New Series #3: Summer 2010, Volume 2 Number 1