


Sleeping In The Forest
I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects,
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.
from Sleeping In The Forest by Mary Oliver
© Mary OliverOne of my favorite poems by
Mary Oliver , I find alot of comfort in her writing. If you are a lover of nature , plants and animals and just observing our magical world you will too :)
This poem reminds me of the summer nights I used to sleep outside just for fun , no tent , just under the stars... it's alot different than camping in a tent with the shell around you.
That was when I lived on a little Island in the Pacific N.W. for 15 years. The Island is
Lopez Island and it is a very sweet place , at it's longest it is only appx. 14 miles long , population about 1,500 . I miss all my friends and community there, and the freedom to sleep under the stars.
We are living in California now and I am not really ready for sleeping outside here quite yet.. since there are skunks , rattlesnakes and poison oak here ... none of those are on Lopez ...
it's enough to put me off sleeping out here for now...
Today is a good day , and any day really to lay belly flat on the Earth and give her a great big hug. She is the mother of us all :)
Ten things we can do to help save this lovely planet .. and ourselves :)