"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." Robert Burroughs
A cycle of manifestation
A seeing
From what I can remember
my spirit began as a flower
Innocent and blooming toward the sun and sky
Eventually I dried up
I fell off and tumbled down
The moist and dark soil took me
I went ever deeper
Not realizing I was becoming a seedling
A world of extremes
a fight to see the sun again
a fight against the darkness
But nature held and nurtured me
and eventually my spirit grew strong enough
I broke through and looked up
The sun shone and I was smiling
up, up, up I yearned
Back to the canopies and the heights I had experienced in my youth
The sun continued to shine
the rain fell, and night and day appeared
At some point
I realized
I now had roots
Looking up, growing
I stopped fighting
I accepted and embraced
the present conditions
Never ceasing to look up
Except now I see something different
I see the wonder of all that's around me
I feel the stability of my roots
I feel the growth of my spirit -
into a tree trunk I become...
~Modern Akhmatova
