I am new to this site, and this forum, but having read through many of the threads and posts I am curious to know if anyone would like to bare their hearts and submit some poetry, or even something that touches you.

I'll start, and I'll preface this by saying I am not a poet (far from it), but recently I've been in the grip of some strong emotions. Wonderful feelings, really (but that still doesn't make me a poet!).

Here goes...

stillness

A forest, a brook, green leaves and dappled shores.
A proud elk, reflected in the glassy water, young, strong, confident in his youth.
Snorting, he stamps and leaps, reveling in his sure strength and virility.

Towards the south -- with nary a backwards look -- he bounds away.

Many years later, mate at his side, he stands at the same brook. Slower,
greyer, wiser, but not content. Not. "still". Something is missing.

...

The brook has seen many seasons come and go, many elk come and go.
The cycle of life has turned and turned, but to this elk? There is only one cycle.
His cycle. The only one to register in his dim mind.

A mate he long ago found, but there exists an agitation. That lack of "stillness".
He seeks without volition, an imperative from sources unknown. It is a need he cannot frame.

He seeks and seeks, not knowing he seeks.
A vital thread is missing. A colour. A shape. A scent. A sound. A touch.

Seasons later, plodding through a summer meadow. A sound.
A shape. A flash of pink, of blue, of red!

A scent, and a touch.

Stillness.

A green bower overhead, dappled shadows and a gurgling brook.
Off in the distance, a vision of stillness: a hind grazes calmly.

Stunned at her beauty, the elk kicks a stone. Startled, the hind lifts her head,
turning her beautiful eyes upon the elk.

Stillness.

Can it last? The story ravels...