Last fall, while away on a retreat, I spent one day entirely in silence. I had roamed the nearby woods earlier in the week, on the lookout for these toadstools I had heard could be seen along the path. What sheer and simple delight to find them! During my 24 hours of silence, I nestled myself down in the fallen leaves and was enamored by this lovely beauty. It asked to be remembered in a poem.
Toadstool Muse
She popped up overnight
A bit of a gran
d entrance I’d say
Tucked in the hollow beside a small stump
A beauty she is
With her freckled sienna top
Catching autumn’s dappled light
Quiet
Unassuming
Accepting
Raving Beauty
Enough in what she is
Enough with where she is
Not clamouring
to be noticed
Simply being
Showing up in her time
Silently, brilliantly present
Still