My big window parading all my friends so close by, yet no one tattled or told me today was the day they would die. Yesterday, the sun was a bit worn-out, and some rain cried while wetting the earth, but still, I saw the new Creeping Jenny’s annual birth. My eyes don’t work well on this sad and pale night. The moon tried, and she kissed me, but nothing prepared me for such a horrible sight.
A behemoth Ogre with iron teeth that eats and annihilates green trees was here. I gave my best smile, but it growled and whirled as I darted away with ominous fear. Piles of my friends lay one on another, sap couldn’t rise, and a fawn lost its mother. Tiny new seedlings lay dying clearly before me, like little turtles fighting hard to get to the sea.
Ten turkeys visited yesterday morning and ate lots of corn, but we just put out more for the deer, who would be by early tomorrow morn. The Red Cardinal, my friend, came three times very early, but he never did sing. I examined him, and there was no sign of injury or harm to his wing. Curious, the birds that drop from the tree that claps the most in the afternoon sun stayed far away, and their dance never begun.
Marching toward the significant Ogre, I begged, supplicated, and my sobs echoed throughout the forest. Then the birds, frogs, owls, and insects joined in with a merciful plea of a chorus. The fairies and Luna moths visited tonight and gave me a hundred butterfly kisses each. They shared how the trees crying in the woods were dying like the whales too close to the beach.
Please don’t think for a minute; so many of you are not next to my lonely heart this night. I also think of all the deaths of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, Turkey, and Syria, for they are not out of my mind just because they are out of my sight. Know, in the day, I pray for so many of you that I write and love and think about too. You are all my family; many have been through much heartache and pain, it may be a bit different, but it hurts just the same.
If I seem far away lately, please don’t think you are not remembered in prayer because I have just been a bit sad, but believe me, I care. My heart feels like it has fallen down a deep well, but like my dog Esther, she knows I’m not swell. Changes can be adventurous and fun, like a move from your home, but the following people won’t have a forest to play in and roam.
Tonight, I will pray for all of you and God’s Grace for helping me write in such a vast space. Even though I have not had time to read all the beauty you have written, don’t think for a moment; you’re not on my mind when I find time for sitting. I guess I am just sad for the world and the pain my heart feels all around, and I will think of you more now that the silence is sadly unnaturally found.
“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt