I wrote this in 2012 while spending time in nature at Schmeeckle Reserve in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. There is a wetland area called Moses Creek that was renovated in 2010. Since the renovation had been completed it was one of my favorite places to go to escape into nature. It was so easy for me to disconnect from the world just outside the borders of the reserve while here. The writing below poured out of my head faster than I could write it down. I was standing on one of the boardwalks looking out on the nature splendor of Moses Creek. I transferred my scribbles to my computer when I returned to my apartment and called it “Beat of the Stream”. I called it that because I wanted to show how everything within us and around us is connected. I do believe that if we listen we can feel the connection with nature. But I just never quite felt like it was finished, and that something was still missing. Nine years later and I still think something is missing but this long after, I can no longer replicate those feelings and do not want to edit that moment. I do hope to visit again someday and see how much the wetland renovation has taken root since I left Stevens Point in 2013. But for now here is “Beat of the Stream”.
I don’t know how anyone can look out on this world and feel nothing…
not the stir of life from within nor the deep feeling of peace,
I hear the sounds of the world: the baby geese chirping, the duck splashing in for a landing,
the tree frogs calling, the stream flowing… the whole world is alive.
The beating of my heart falling in line with the rhythm of nature…
I take a deep breath in and fill my lungs with the strength of harmony,
my blood flowing through my veins to my heart
and then dispersing life throughout my body
like the stream flowing down its banks
dispersing out through the flood plains of the surrounding wetlands.
My mind is like the peaceful drifting breeze carrying a multitude of birds
chirping in an overlap of confusion.
Never do I feel more alive than these moments I spend with my mind in the world.
In tuned with the world, I know we beat as one.
For more information on the Moses Creek renovation in Schmeeckle Reserve check out their website here.
Courtney The Frogologist 