Years First Walk

This semester is off to a great start. Everyone is pondering new beginnings.
Therefore, I would like to share a bit of poetry from last year. Every year, (and many days in between), I like to go for a hike or walk and clear my head, arrange goals, and just sit quietly and watch nature. This post is a reflection I hope will be enjoyable.

Many happy years to come for each and every one!

Years First Walk

I went for a walk in a wood
One cloudy winter's day
Not cold, not icy, but
Bracing - in that refreshing way

There was no real path
Laid down by careful hands
Just crispy leaves, damply trodden...
Strewn flakes of gold carelssly scattered
Over chocolate fondant
Enveloping and nurturing the dewy, spongy land

This journey began auspiciously:
A falcon stopped me - on my feet
I stood - not breathing
Listening to my heart beat

"What beauty!" I whispered to no one
Awed at its majesty
"Splayed elegance in flight,"  I murmured
Thinking of what it reminded me

I sighed, a bit listless
As I gazed at the barren wood
For I knew once before
Where the blazing colors stood

Nonetheless, onward I trekked
and thanked God for the air
Cleansed by swaying pines
and towering oaks stationed wherever where.

Crossing a 'Meandering Stream'
By a sturdy plank of bridge....

      Looking down,
       I saw the sound,
        As its tranquil liquid spilled

        Staying there,
         Looking where,
         the streamed flowed softly by

          A melody
           Came back to me
            A story
             Met my eye

              Grounds shift
               Roots rift
                Giants topple
                 and there they lay

                All because
                 the stream I saw
                 Gently chose a different way

There I stood,  alone , in that wood
and greeted the light of day

For I'd been asleep
and was unaware...
Until the waters began to say:

'You belong'
Here with me...
'You belong'
It said silently...

Breathing deeply
I understood
Why I was to walk
That barren wood

Up I went
Step by step
Gaining strength
Though I should be weak

Further on
I felt my song
Rising with me
Growing....


The stream I met -
Its tender power
Was there inside me
Flowing....

There was a seat
As I reached the peak
and there I sat
Knowing....

All doubts are past
I have (at last!)
Met the person I am to be

And may I say,
On that bracing day,
I left that wood
Glowing...

Hadassah R Patterson

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