A day in the forest transforms into a vision of the world of happiness
I sit on the cold, barren log. I feel lonely and separate; the air feels like cold water dripping down my throat. I sit there as quiet as a hawk flying through the sky. Rain starts to pour down on my face. The rain clouds my face, putting protective armor around me. I’m as lonely as a star sitting alone in the big skies. I look down at the mushrooms; they have grown big, and they are climbing up my legs and up my spine and tapping on my back and whispering, “Be safe.” They’re gone.
I feel desperate, and I’m tired without any company, but then I remember the stories that my mom used to tell me. “Connect with the trees,” she said. “They will be your friends.” So that’s what I do, but I still feel tired at the end. I stand up and whisper goodbye to my friends.
Then I leave the clearing. I see my friend walking and singing like nothing is wrong with the world, and I start to feel happy. My happiness vibrates from me to the stars and back again. But before I left to get to the world of happiness, I glanced back one more time to see my sit spot, the small clearing in the middle of the forest. My sit spot is surrounded by large trees and plants, a lot of blackberries, and two large logs in the middle of everything.
We float up out of Earth and to the imaginary world, the world of happiness, rolling and spinning every once in a while. I think back to my sit spot; I think back to the mushrooms I imagined; I think back to the smell that I smelled. Mint. I smelled mint. I tasted salal and the smell of my mask. I heard the birds singing their song. I saw trees surrounding and protecting me. I felt a rough bark. The trees were like men protecting a palace. The rain was like words floating out of the trees. The stars were like little light bulbs, bobbing around the sky.
And finally we got to the world of happiness and love. Our feet touched the ground, and a group of people was walking toward us. We looked around. We were surrounded by nature on all sides. There was a large castle in the middle, and rufous hummingbirds were circling everyone. They had long beaks and coconut chests. They were beautiful! They looked like bubbles protecting their castle. They also had tiny feet in the world, stiff and fat.
We smiled and drifted up to the castle. We were happy together.
Bellevue, WA
