I would walk out of my back door and to the edge of my deck. From there I could look out over my grassy backyard. It ended in a precise line and where it stopped, stood a wall of tall trees. The sun would rise behind them, stretching long shadows onto my lawn. The shadows of the tops of the trees would leak over to the top of my house leaving my backyard stripped with the shadows of tree trunks and splotches of light that made it through the woods. I would look up at the towering tree tops, swaying and dancing in the wind. They were so inviting. Their brushing leaves were like a siren’s call, summoning me into their warm and shady world.
The edge of the grass and the start of the woods was a property line. I knew that. But I didn’t know whose property ended at my grass. I walked to the edge of the grass which as far as I had ever ventured. I turned around to see if my parents would stop me. No one was there. How could I be blamed for going on? I stepped onto the bed of brown pine needles and entered the shade. The woods must have been 100 square yards. When you’re 3 and a half feet tall, 100 square yards equates to a catillion miles. Miles of beams of light stretching through the branches to the ground, spotlighting random patches of dirt and rock. I could so specifically feel the difference in temperature when I stuck my hand in the sun’s path. It was warm and nice but when I pulled it back I felt the stimulating coolness of the shade. The trees creaked and rumbled, I was aware of their vibrating that went all the way down into the ground. I could smell the dust and mold from the bark in the air.
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I found a creek. It would trickle, then be silent. Then it roared over the rocks. All this within a 5 foot stretch. When I looked at the still water I heard silence and when I looked at the rocks I heard the roar. The water was talking to me. The trees were talking to me. They said “look” and I saw something moving fast out of the corner of my eye, it was a hawk descending through the branches, gaining speed. It would appear and disappear every other second as I lost it behind the trees.
“Look.”
The hawk landed behind a tree. I knew it had caught something. I wanted to see. I climbed out of the creek by pulling myself up a skinny tree with my hands and planting my feet into the dirt walls the patient water had created. I snuck over to where it had landed but there was nothing, just a beam of sun shining right on where the hawk had landed. I thought that maybe each beam of light had indicated a spot where a kill had taken place. Then I realized that the light moves throughout the day and that that would mean most of the forest had seen some sort of death. I supposed that, as old as the forest was, it was entirely possible but that the point was mute because that would mean that those were also all spots that the forest had known life.
Walking deeper into the woods I found a tree that I could climb. I got a running start and kicked off the tree and grabbed a branch, I pulled myself up the same way I had to get myself out of the creek, with my feet walking against the trunk. I grabbed another branch, pulled and then was able to swing my foot onto the first branch I had grabbed. Now it was easy. I went up and up. The sun’s gaze would find me. I could see it watching out of the corner of my eye.
I had gone as high as I could go and I decided to stay there as long as I could. The squirrels looked at me, confused. I didn’t look like one of them. But here I am like one of them. Was I one of them? I don’t think they knew but eventually they accepted me and continued squirreling about. I found a way to sit down and lean against the trunk. It was rather comfortable for sitting in a tree and I didn’t feel like I would fall. After a few hundred breaths I heard a pace below. I looked down and saw a Buck, strong and virtuous. He strutted through his realm with his big chest, his antlers a carbon based crown. The forest fell silent with respect as he passed. A humble squirrel, I made sure he had passed before I climbed down. I had experienced the magic of the wood and I had to share it.
I dropped down from the branch I had jumped to earlier. I landed and collapsed onto my side in a smooth roll. I got up and brushed myself off. I looked up and something horizontal caught my eye amongst all of the vertical trees. It was a fence at the other end of the woods. I ran over to it jumping over fallen logs and dodging low lying ferns until I caught myself on it, coming to an immediate stop. I stepped onto the bottom wooden row and pulled my chest so it was touching the top row. From here I surveyed the vast fields in front of me. It was a farm of rolling fields and a pond. Horses ran in one of the fields and the golden rays touched the golden grass and the golden leaves of the trees, connecting heaven and earth.
