The Unicorn of Longfellow Trail

Today I walked Longfellow trail with a unicorn

He knew the forest like forest was his middle name

pointing out the peace tree Chief Jake Swamp planted

An olive branch of an oak offered as peace to all nations

from his indigenous peoples nation to the new nations

So much to forgive was forgiven and such a brave forgiveness

Chief Jake won the Nobel Prize for Peace for his peace trees

So says my unicorn 

Longfellow trail for a length is also a section of The North Country Trail

Four thousand six hundred miles more is more freedom

than even unicorns and I could imagine so we stuck with Longfellow

He took his mind off his troubles of late to give me a bit of his wisdom and magic

He told me that hemlock over there was the tallest east of the Mississippi

until the microburst of ’07 laid it low

And over there, a moss-covered timber he said was over 500 years old

We paused a moment in the forest hush to ponder 500 years

At a great boulder on the ridge he showed me a small rounded bowl

perfectly eroded in the rock, a bit of rain water collected there

A family walked by and as he showed the little girl others gathered, listened

Listened to a unicorn of all things can you believe it?

Centuries the Indians gathered acorns, brought them to that rock 

after softening them in the river and ground them there with another rock

Ground, ground, ground them to a barely palatable but richly fat nutritious mash

for if you can make peace and eat acorns you will never go hungry

~ Girard Tournesol