(a throwback from lockdown)
I looked for a spot off the trail that I could climb to. I needed privacy and protection from the human noises of the world.
I climbed up, around pine trees and other trees whose names I do not know. Finally, I found my sunlit spot behind a boulder, a place that could cradle me, like an easy chair formed by the earth.
Deep breaths. Looked at the wide, blue Colorado sky. Bright sun. Clouds? I can’t remember.
The smell? My favorite, the one I hope to smell the moment my spirit leaves my body, or however that works when we die. It was warm pine, which smells like sunshine and earth. It’s a reassuring smell.
Birds chirped. A fly landed on my leg. I let the ants crawl on my hands.
Release,
finally.