As promised, here is my first excerpt from my newly published book, Quiet. Wisdom. Rising. I captured this photograph this past week. My family went backpacking in the Trinity Alps for a few days. We camped at Little Boulder Lake, the second night the reflection of the sunset was extra special.
Night-Time Knowing:
The thickening
blue night sky rolls up the day
without caution into nighttime
if I am still enough I can feel everything
the ground, trees and crickets exhale
deeply with a knowing they don’t need
to hold their breath anymore they release
moisture quickly blankets the ground
my ears perked to every sound, the stars
lighting a path toward my voice
as I raise my head up
I am engulfed
in the still darkness I am unsure
feet moving I quietly contemplate
yet my thoughts
sound so loud within and around me
I begin to wonder who
is listening and then sudden comfort
overcomes the whispering
drowning out the unknown beginnings of night
and I am drenched in this nights knowing
I wrote this poem while sitting in bed in my parent’s guest room. The window was propped open and that thick damp night-time air slowly crept into the room as I was writing. It had been a long day of tending to my dad and hearing the crickets through the window brought me some peace before bed that night. I could finally breathe at my own needed pace.
The Shady Tree 