A Journey

It was a hot summer day as I walked across the street and headed into the woods along a path that twisted and turned around the small and large trees.

Deeper and deeper into the darkening forest I walked as the canopy above the giant trees sheltered me from the hot summer sun.

As I walked along the path the air became cool and refreshing to breath.

Over hills and across babbling brooks I journeyed. The smells of the trees and forest plants became more and more distinctive to my senses.

Coming to a small knoll I paused among a stand of huge and stately pine trees. I looked around me to observe and drink in what my senses were reaching out to receive.

The ground beneath my feet was a cushion of pine needles layered years upon years to create a soft bed inviting the traveler.

Straight ahead the path faded into a small meadow of wild flowers drinking up the summer sun. Perhaps this was an old garden or pasture green for animals… But now it has been reclaimed by nature to be a painting of wild and colorful beauty.

To my right the ground sloped gently up into a stand of large, kingly, white birch trees, so white that they glowed from the summer sun reflecting through their bright green leaves. Green and white their glow brightened the forest deep.

To my left the forest faded into the reflection of a deep blue lake feeding upon cascading waters falling from a tall granite mountain on the other side of the deep blue waters.

The beauty and peacefulness of this place captured my spirit and soul. I found a soft spot on the bed below and lay back against a stately pine.

Oh how peaceful, how restful, how wonderful was this moment as I drifted off into a deep sleep.

Dreaming, or living again a moment of life I know not. Perhaps it was real, perhaps a dream, perhaps it was now, a time past or a time to be… Was it in this place or a place to be, I know not?

As my spirit and mind drank in this moment I found myself wanting it to never end.

Perhaps this was an eternal garden but I do know I wanted it to last and never end.

Awakening from this time would return me to the world and time of men and in time this place of dreams would no longer be.

And so I remember a time, a place, a dream that once was and look forward to that place once again as I travel deeper in the forest of men seeking my dream and my journey’s end.

By EEHealy