Hidden Place

Tall grass waves in the wind, the way that a young child waves at the back of a car while standing in the driveway unmoved. A shallow stream trickles, waiting for the next rain to come so it can once again swell up the way a baking cake does. Pure and clean the water moves by without anything in its way stopping it. Baby crawfish and tadpoles dart hurriedly through the water as if they are trying to escape the wrath of some invisible monster that is lurking under the rocks. The stumps of old trees that once grew come up above the water making nature’s perfect stepping-stones. Walking across then to the other side water comes up and kisses my feet and ankles. I climb the large stones that have fallen just right to be steps to take me to the top. Standing up high I look around. I feel like a god would standing on Mount Olympus. I lay down on the soft warm wood, with my legs hanging off the edge the way a snake hangs from a tree branch. Closing my eyes I let the warm sun soak into my skin the way water soaks into a sponge. I can feel all the imperfections and scars left behind from past storms. The bridge holds strong and weathers every storm the way a girl from a broken home does. I breathe in the air, warm and sweet like a pie just from an oven, fresh like a newly picked apple. Everything is at peace here. When I let out a sigh everything seems to echo it, as if it too is happy to be in this calm place taking a break from the world.