The primeval forest at the Toft Point Preserve
by Ethel Mortenson Davis
Underneath
undisturbed giant trees,
beneath the soil,
the mycelial web—
a fungi galaxy of life,
connects all the trees
together,
one species next
to the other for a reason—
a dependency for life.
Lichens drape
the forest floor,
even over the fallen trees,
covering them
with a green blanket.
Tree trunks grown
for four or five hundred years
climb into the clouds.
My heart seems to grow
at least as tall.
A bird’s song
I do not recognize,
plants I cannot identify.
The air thick with oxygen
and the icy breath
of a thousand Wisconsin winters
gathers around our ankles
as we stand in a primeval forest
on a small finger of land—
all that is left.
Note: Based on the scientific discoveries described by Peter Wholleben in The Hidden Life of Trees.
