I remember, not just vaguely, but very well

a place in the woods where I went as a boy...

a secret place, of course, known to anybody

who had the inclination to walk among ticks

and chiggers and the possibility of snakes...

But nobody ever ventured there unless invited...

It was my secret spot... a sacred still retreat

beneath the trees beside a murmuring brook.

I did not know then what I know now...that God

is known to children who learn what sacred is

When they discover in themselves a being

rare that can’t be shared... that stays hidden...

that connects with something beyond itself...

that self eternal without regard to time or space,

recognized then and now as who it really is.