Departures

"Looked at from a distance, the forest seems 
Haunted. But safe within its narrow room 
Its light is innocent and green, as though 
Emerging from another dream of diminution 
We found ourselves of normal, human size, 
Attempting to touch the leaves above our heads. 
Why couldn't we have spent our summers here, 
Surrounded and growing up again? "

from Summer Home

by John Koethe

Moose and Calf

"in the natural world there are no kings.
I will also leave office and return, an old farmhand, plowing the fields."

from Seeing Off Prefect Ji Mu as He Leaves Office and Goes East of the River
by Wang Wei

Sept. Snow

"Fast drives the snow, and no man comes this way;
The hills grow wintry white, and bleak winds moan
About the naked uplands. I alone
Am neither sad, nor shelterless, nor gray,
Wrapped round with thought, content to watch and dream."

from In November

by Archibald Lampman (One of my favourite poets)