Click to turn off, "A Dream"
from the musical, "Cinderella"

A Country Walk

I live in rural Arkansas, in the NW central area. The Ozark Mountains.. well they are mountains to us. We have a 30 acre farm, which we have managed to allow to become over grown with trees and brush and wild things in our busy lives and our broken tractorness. There are plenty of country roads to walk down and quiet creeks to watch. We have been building a new house on our place for the last 3 years... all ourselves.. my husband is a homebuilder, but we have done this with no borrowed money, so it is taking time.. We moved in Labor Day of 1999, but there are still several things left to finish. It is built near the edge of a lovely section of trees.

There is a wonderful glade in the center of the trees. When you walk in by the path there is one tree with a vine growing up into its branches. The vine is almost as thick as your wrist and twists and loops up into the tree. When you pass this tree and vine, the glade seems to hush and soften and I can feel a small charge of energy around me. We have lined the path which winds through the trees with native stones from the nearby creek and placed a swing-glider in the small center clearing. We plan to add a stone bench at the end closest to the creek.

We are planting Azaleas all around the perimeter of the glade and Wisteria inside. When you look up toward the sky from the center, the canopy of tree leaves almost covers the opening. Sit for a while in my glider and listen to the small creek slipping by.... it is only about 30 feet away. The deer think it is their glade too, (to be fair, they found it first) and keep eating the Azaleas, but they are beautiful and quiet, and we don't hunt them, so they are still around. We can take a short walk through the trees to the creek and pick spearmint to make tea with, I had way too much by the back door a few years ago, and threw some here...it seems to love the shade at the edge of the creek and has continued its spreading.

I hope you enjoyed the walk.. It is nice to just relax and hear the trees talk and the creek laugh.

Dreaming In The Glade

As I walk through the velvet night,
A leafy canopy covers my path.
The roof of the forest moves silently
Whispering in the quiet breeze.
Crystal pinpoints of light invite
Visions as night sounds soothe.
Soft lights in the distance made
To shimmer fairylike in the trees.

A wedding of spirits, a silvery delight,
Filling my soul in a moonlit bath.
A realm of wonder just beyond I see
Above the leafy canopy of the trees.
Ten Thousand Thousands worlds of light
Between Heaven and Earth silently move.
As I walk Dreaming in the Glade
Reality flies gossamer away on the breeze.

Karen Shell, Copyright © March 17, 1999

From the Musical, Cinderella

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