Branches

Intending to follow 

the direction of my heart,

I set out without a map. 

As a child, instruction from parents 

~ and any adult ~ 

composed a singular map 

Adults were all knowledgeable? 

An adult for many years, 

the truth of what I have known  

has been pared, shifted and changed 

with many maps needed and used

   Lives lived by example

     

   Instructions books

       Text books

   Advice from family and friends,

    Books of all kinds

  Noticing nature’s ways of growing

I set out with many maps in my heart. 

“Maps are way of organizing wonder.”

~ Peter Steinhart, writer and naturalist