Expectant, I break with the path to enter the forest gate. I know I have a pact with the forest, under whose canopy, worlds open. Engrossed by sweet, green-tinted shade spangled with glimmers of sunlight, my senses tingle. Wide-eyed I stand, compelled by the richness of possibility: here in the world of shadows and translucence, anything is possible.

I move on. The woods close around me and beckon me further. The sound of my tread is its own music as my feet pad over gnarled roots, soft beds of moss, and the tough flanks of boulders.

I feel the stretch of my calves and hear also, the rhythm of my breathing; only the murmur of the trees is more compelling. I bathe in green splendor, glad for a moment of reverie.

Here in the forest I own myself, I am fully and freely me. The covenant is with the Life Force. And I drink at its fount.

Life looms larger. More real than real, this arbor now--heaving in sync with the wind that enters its vaulted, verdant halls.

Dark hollows quiver with guarded truths, the quiet symbiosis of their parts to the whole. Wholly holy, in tune with itself, integrated and diverse, at rest in activity, steadfast but quick in growth and new life, the forest sings to me in a crescendo of beauty.

And I applaud with my soul.


All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.