When the Door Opens…
A surprise adventure through a pandemic-opened door
Morning sun finding its way from the treetops to the forest floor
Dropping light upon leaves one by one
Awakening dormant dreams
My feet have longed for the crunch of dirt
And the crackle of spent pine needles beneath my shoes
Welcoming home the prodigal daughter
A fallen tree nourishes a new one
Giving life, nothing wasted, everything used
Pine bark shaped like puzzle pieces
Fitted together as if to solve a great mystery
A spider’s web with an impossible reach
Connecting heaven and earth between the trees
White lotuses, rooted in mud
Yet they open and receive each dawn
The lake presides in silence
Sunlit diamonds dancing on its surface
Magic, alive
I awake to a new world everyday, but especially today
The shadow of my pen moving across the page
Proving I exist
I am absolved in the grand array
©Cindye Sablatura 2020
When I was little, my parents bought a trailer, and we took summer vacations to the Colorado Rockies, the Arkansas Ozarks, and South Padre Island in Texas, back when you could comb the beach and find tons of sand dollars and all manner of seashells. A love for exploration and the outdoors was born in me on those trips. In the early nineties, I had the good fortune to live in Washington state for two and half years, where I camped, hiked, river rafted, and fly fished my heart out. I still think the Cascade Mountain Range is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Then life happened, and those times became a distant memory, but there is a part of myself that has always longed to spend time in nature again. My husband and I recently had the opportunity to buy a small trailer from a family member, so we did. Six months into the pandemic, we decided to put it to use and take a family trip to Daingerfield State Park in east Texas. My daughters are city girls, but they didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to get out of the house. So, we squeezed all four of us into that little trailer for a couple of days, unplugged, and it was glorious! It also felt like getting a piece of my soul back. It took a pandemic to get all of us back to nature together. This poem and these pictures came from that adventure.
1. Great shots!! Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos. The tree bark – LOVE!!!
2. I loved reading your story, your memories, and your beautiful expression of your connection to Mother Nature!
3. Strong lines –
“A spider’s web with an impossible reach
Connecting heaven and earth between the trees” – this is great imagery.
“Pine bark shaped like puzzle pieces
Fitted together as if to solve a great mystery” – Such a great thought, so full of power. I love this.
LYS, dear Cindye, LYS!
Thank you, April! I have always loved the look of pine bark. It was wonderful to be surrounded and immersed in the symphony of nature for a couple of days. I just did some free writing, and when I got home, it arranged itself into this poem.
oh Cindye, I love this so much. I think a lot about trees, I always wonder about their roots and how there is so much going on under our feet that we don’t know about. I wonder about how the trees communicate with each other and about all the years they’ve been growing and cycling through all different kinds of weather conditions year after year. So remarkable. Nature is so miraculous, so healing, and such a soul lifter. So glad you had this opportunity to take some time in nature and that wrote this wonderful poem that captures this soul building experience!
Thank you so much, Jeanne. I too, love trees. Amazing, magic creatures! I have recently studied about how the largest living organism on earth is an aspen tree grove in Utah. All those trees are connected by the same root system and came from the same “mother root.” Seems to me to be a great metaphor for humanity. I am incorporating this idea and metaphor into a business I am creating. I am so glad fall is around the corner. I never tire of gazing into those colorful leaves!
I am with you every step of the way on this nature journey of yours! So glad you were able to share the experience the awesomeness of the lakeside forest with your family! There’s nothing like country fresh air to blow those blues away!!
I love this. I feel like I saw the “trailer” when we met for lunch, but then here, here is the movie. It’s ten times better than the amazing reviews it got. More depth than anticipated. More beauty. More emotions. Thanks for meeting me, then taking me back with you for the feature. Love you strong, my sister…..and I will give you my Oscar vote! 🙂