The Written Word

I Marveled at a New Country

I went to the lake again today, although today I went with different eyes. I walked through sagebrush, grass and a forest that seemed bathed in a different light.  As I walked along the sandy beaches and rocky shores, what I was looking at I saw. My surroundings became bright.
    Henry David Thoreau proclaimed that you could travel without leaving your backyard. He was right. It just takes some time to realize it. When you open your eyes, mind and soul, you become aware of where you are. Even an old trail becomes a new one.
    I marveled at sights I once would have only briefly acknowledged, or completely have missed and not seen at all.  I walked through tall grass where an ocean of waving stalks filled the air with the aroma of dry straw. I walked trough the devastation of a past forest fire where the scorched landscape was given the breath of hope with the blooming of a flower. I studied with amazement the contemporary sculpture that nature can do with time, wind, fire and rain. I looked at the intricate design of wood patterns on gnarly twisted logs. Even a piece of rusty human debris held a sense of wonder and uniqueness.
    As I jumped from rock to rock, I noticed how some were cracked, the pieces separated but still showing the whole puzzle. What time and elements had the strength to break granite in half? I found a seagull feather resting by a pinecone, a clump of green grass growing amongst the rocks and sand. They all amazed me when I looked at them, and this time really saw them. Even the lapping of the waves hitting the lake shore became a poetic sonnet that embraced the soul.
    By moving slowly, living in the now and opening my eyes to all the sensations, the world flooded into them. I became a traveler in a new country that I had wondered through almost every day. - dba