Chanterelles

The Forest's Gold

My darling Chanterelles

Looking for Mushrooms at Sunrise

When it is not yet day
I am walking on centuries of dead chestnut leaves
In a place without grief
Though the oriole
Out of another life warns me
That I am awake

In the dark while the rain fell
The gold chanterelles pushed
through a sleep that was not mine
Waking me
So that I came up to the mountain to
find them

Where they appear it seems I have
been before
I recognize their haunts as though
remembering
Another life

Where else am I walking even now
Looking for me

~ W.S. Merwin

This one is for you coastal dwellers and mountain folks. For the love of chanterelles. And many do love her. I had no trouble finding poetry honoring her golden glory. I only struggled to choose the appropriate one to orient you in the mystical atmosphere that a chanterelle hunt evokes.

I was as surprised as you’re about to be to find that a mushroom celebrated by foragers and chefs around the world didn’t seem to have any myths alluding to it.

The modern anecdotes I’ve come a…