The experience our class shared on the Noland trail towards the beginning of the semester was engaging and rewarding. I enjoyed the slow process of connecting to the place by visually exploring its different aspects as well as coming to understand its wildlife and found it to settle wandering thoughts and allow myself to truly connect with the place. No longer was the trail I walked along just space between my destinations, but a place I chose to inhabit. While spending time walking around and journaling I was immersed deeper in the realization that I was treading on nature's property. I am just a visitor, but the forest remains constant. I'd like to share a poem I wrote later on the trail. Pardon it's unedited nature.
Sickly pines race towards
the sun and form a grayish
canopy with cascading green leaves
and black cones.
Branches that don't make it turn brittle,
a mirage for the tree climber.
I find a ledge to see the water.
In it I see a reflection of a
landscape that reminds me of
places far away, but the
tempo of passing runner's feet
reminds me that I'm not far enough away.
Yet, where the green meets the
water, there I have found my stillness
amongst the quiet ripples, and on a
bank of pine needles I
sit down for nature's one-act festival,
directed by the Maker and starring wild and freedom,
but a bald eagle's flight steals the show.
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