Alive

Miles upon miles of forest stretches before you.

Trees the height of giants with branches as long and lean as a pianist's elegant fingers,

Sway in the wind like they're serenading the sky

Praising the heavens up above and the earth down below

for all the goodness and support they will never cease to provide.

Lakes emerge from every clearing, stretching deep and full and rounded in every direction.

They punctuate the long, unwieldy sentences formed by the dense woodlands,

Who are teaming with thickly constructed descriptions of their lives,

exciting narratives exploding with anecdotes, metaphors, and meanings; as each word falls into the next like dominos too excited to wait their turn to tell you all about the wonderful adventures the forest has in store:

The beautiful sights and mystical mountains and magical caves and the history of the trees and there's just so much to share and experience and learn....

Until you reach the edge of the lake.

Something more breathtaking than a thousand adjectives could ever describe.

The gentle ripple of the waves.

A soft reflection of the sunlight peeking through the gaps in the leaves,

The current pressing insistently towards the shore at a speedy and playful tempo,

Like children racing each other across an open field.

If you listen very carefully, you can hear music emerging from the pebbles at the bottom the water.

They sing gentle hymns of tranquility; and nursery rhymes which remind every weather-worn traveller

Of the lullabies his or her mother whispered on the day he or she was born.

The icy embrace, as you slip into the water, sends exhilarating thrills down your spine,

Reminding you that you are present

You are privileged

But most importantly -

You are alive.