BEDROCK

 

Summer morning.

I'm sitting on my sister's porch:

horses grazing in the grassy field,

sweet dog lying at my feet.

The air smells like 

all the summer mornings 

of my life: when I and the world

were young, and I walked the hills

breathing in the scent of sage

and Ponderosa pine.

Forever, now, the summer morning smell

takes me back: sweet pea and weeping willow,

lake-scent and whisperings

engraved on my heart.

Since childhood, this has been

the bedrock of my life:

blue-sky mornings, breathing trees,

fur creatures wild and tame

with their love-seeking eyes.

Whatever the "civilised" world is doing,

it is the world of forest and sea breezes, 

world of the wild ones,

that anchors me

and keeps my heart at home.

For Sarah at earthweal who asks us to write about our connection with nature. Mine has always been with me. As a toddler, I walked our small farm, a turkey gobbler protector bigger than me, walking on either side. When I was old enough to ride a bike, i biked out into the country, left the bike, and wandered the hills, singing. Once a herd of cows followed me, perhaps thinking I was leading them home to the barn, and supper. I have been a Blue Sky Woman all my life.