We’d run.
Our sneakers dripping with mid morning dew.
Hearts pounding.
We’d reach the plateau.
And See.
Our eyes held in rapture.
Not just any Green. An ethereal magnificence.
In Spring, it was an unfurling of a carpet on the forest floor.
In Summer, the ferns rose.
They climbed, fed by hard, warm rains.
Knee-high under the cover of deciduous trees.
Chest-high in clearings.
Emitting an earthy fragrance, fresh and cooling, filling our lungs.
In Autumn, Green gave way to a harvest of Gold.
Tips of fiddleheads crumbling as we batted them with our hands in our climb.
Rising particles of fine dust in air behind us.
We’d reach the creek.
A trickle now.
We’d kneel down, the moss cushioning our knees.
Lips rushing to slurp the cool water.
Pausing to catch our breath.
And, then back.
Back down the mountainside.
Our footprints cutting shadows through the ferns.
Leaving their imprints etched in our consciousness.
It’s so close.
So close today, 40 years later.
Thousands of miles away.
I close my eyes,
My skin tingles from the coolness under the canopy.
The Canadian Cascades lingering in my nostrils.
There it is.
Right there.
The Sea of Green.
“You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all, just as an intelligence without the possibility of expression is not really an intelligence. Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it, we are nothing.”
Credits: Image Credit: Saicode via Sunforhersoul. Quote Source: Journal of a Nobody
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You honor Bunuel’s words and your own heartwarming memories beautifully Dave.
Thank you Mimi.
I can smell it too. Right there. Well done.
Thank you.
a wonderful memory of all sensual engagement. isn’t it amazing how a color or a scent or any sensual trigger really, can bring back a whole experience in an instant? beautiful post d
Thank you Beth. Yes – that’s exactly how it happened. I saw the picture of the ferns. And I was transported back to that place and time.
Fabulous…”There it is. Right there. The Sea of Green.” I see it!! What a glorious image you paint…
Ahhhhh, and this coming from a Master of the Word. Thank you Lori. Means a lot to me.
🙂
David, wow! As I was reading those words, I was telling myself I wanted to know who the writer was and knew I would see a name after the last line. They are YOUR words! So beautiful and poetic. 🙂
Awwwwww, how nice are you. Thank you Carol!
Our current turn-key five acre equestrian farm is nestled in the Pacific Northwest, Kingston, Washington. We have these beautiful ferns growing everywhere. Some ferns are deadly to equine. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=fern+deadly+to+horses&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=fern+deadly+to+horses&sc=0-29&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&id=AB45731B6D0E6779F9E22DC6BCA5565497E07450&selectedIndex=49
Melody, Kingston isn’t so far away from my home town. Thanks for the link. Beautiful. I didn’t realize that ferns (some) were deadly to equine. Learned something today.
Hi David,
Where is your home town? We are moving to Sequim in the spring of 2014. 🙂
Melody, my home town is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlegar,_British_Columbia.
Sequim is beautiful. You are lucky!
GOD is amazing we prayed for three years after the semi-truck accident. I have been going to Sequim since I was a little girl.
Wonderful!
magnificent post…the images had me right there in your memory, a beautiful place.
Thank you Vicki.
WOW! So beautiful, so beautiful, in photograph and in words… Thank you dear David, love, nia
Thank you Nia. I appreciate the kind words.
What Carol said, I wondered who the author was. Beautiful words, images and memories. Thank you for sharing, David!
Awwww, thank you so much Carolann. I appreciate the kind words.
That’s a gorgeous poem David! 🙂 Reminds me of family country walks, and the lovely picture adds to that memory, we did so many of them. I see more of the country through the computer now – that sounds so strange doesn’t it? But I love city life too! 😀
Thank you Suzy. Your feedback means a lot to me. Yes, I see more of the country from the computer too! And I like you, love both city and country life….
David, Your eloquent words capture the magical breaths that are taken out among the ferns, along the creek, under the old growth Douglas Fir where the seasons come and go and memories are forever treasured, in our souls. I am privileged to have read of your vivid, wonderful memories. I am so thankful to still have the eyesight to look out my window at the Old Growth and ferns and truly my “eyes (are)held in rapture.” As my eyes dim I am storing up memories of faces and places touch my soul…
Wonderful. “As my eyes dim I am storing up memories of faces and places touch my soul.” Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.