Roots

I wrote the poem below with someone in mind.
 Our roots are important. They may be strong happy tall tree roots or they may be stunted and rotten but they are roots. There is power in remembering where we have come from because that often has determined where we have ended up. Self awareness holds great power in its hands.

The brilliant green of ferns in the spring
Delicately unfolding
A winding forest path
Fox gloves, bleeding hearts, nod their greeting
The stately trees, massive with age
Sight quietly as the wind says hello
The drum of a woodpecker
And the rustle of something small beside the path
Rich soil and the smells that say - home
I'll slowly meander
Feeling my shoulders lift
Like burdens are lighter
Sunlight filters through like a benediction
There is a stillness I have missed
A feeling I remember
And suddenly, it may be foolish
But I feel how I felt in my best life moments
And its freeing
I walk more slowly - tasting, seeing, feeling
It all
And then I run
Feeling as light as my childhood self
I know where this path takes me
As it always has
I burst out into openness
And its' vastness, its' beauty
Over takes me
I want to plunge in, feel the startling coolness
Be baptized by the waves
And then just sit on an old drifted log
Let go of too many thoughts and things
Breathe in the salt tang
Hear the sea gulls cry
Pick sea glass and tiny treasures from the sand
And be filled with all that illuminates my soul
Have I even realized how much has changed?
How I have changed?
And yet its all still here
And the beauty always brings me back
To the strong, free, brave, wonderful soul
That is me
I am full
Beautiful, filled with light.
Loved.

By Tansy Elgersma