Leavened air rises from under the leaf and needle forest floor and scents the air in eucalyptus and resinous delight. Oh to awake in such a place is bliss on a summer’s morning when the world awakes and yet has never fully gone to sleep. I had slept with the crickets restless in the heat and fell to slumber in a dream watching wheeling stars above. I awake in this aroma of all that seems good and right within the world. For now at least there is no pain in the living. The wound is not open now but dry and clean covered over in a paste of herbs and from dirt. How could I know that while I slept the badgers came and cleaned it with a tincture of saliva, thyme and wormwood? They had kept me safe through my long night of pain.