(7.29.10) Healing

There comes a moment--not infrequently--when it dawns on me that I have been gasping for air for hours, days, or even weeks. The realization occurs when I am once again enveloped by nature. My lungs inhale crisp air with deep and longing expansions. I am breathing more than air now. I am inhaling light particles, water droplets, and bird chirps. Each inhalation touches my soul at its core. In these still moments, I realize my previous deprivation--a state all the more sorrowful because I was so ignorant of it.

In the moments, these moments of stillness, I am healed. The brook now courses through my veins. In the absence of a human companion, I seek the embrace of a tree. Arm in arm, we are at rest, painted with light of the setting sun.