The Ones Who Went Before

Noiseless whistles,
Voiceless screams:
Dust of nothing
Covers everything.


Silent rustling in the woods:
Invisible movement of the ones who went before.

Long lie their shadows upon the ground;
Shadows with substance that can not be held,
Patterns of influence beyond perception.


The ones who went before:
Dead and forgotten
Yet alive and rememberd.
Reverence for the quiet places
Gathering place of the spirits
Unseen and unheard
Yet felt non-the-less.

The ones who went before:
Watchers of the woods,
And the silent places
Where a quiet man 
       may find peace.
		--Ray R. Collins