Kaleidoscope Oak

There is nothing more healing
Than a lone tree In a sacred place …
Wise winds whispered these words to me,
But I found the truth in it all on my own.
It was a particularly comfortable day
Given the atmosphere.
The kind of day that would allow my mind
To travel, to seek meaning the way that it does.
I closed my eyes, and let out a sigh that mimicked the
Soft cries of north western beaches
So cold and misunderstood.
The perfect place for a mind like mine

I held my breath again, a little longer each time
So that each exhale would present as a replica
Of relief, a feeling I could’ve died for
After the final exhale, pure thoughts of an icy ocean breeze  
slipped through my fingertips. My heart fluttered, as the image in my mind
crumbled into a black screen.
How, I thought to myself.
How could my mind possibly empty itself this way?
I am the woman who lives inside of her head,
My thoughts race like ready boulders tumbling down
A steep mountain, looking for something to defeat.
Usually.
Without a hostile mind, I didn’t know who I was...
The calmness of my newfound vision felt more like loss,
An empty and indestructible form of longing.
I attempted to open my eyes and abandon the memory,
but just as I prepared myself for spiritual departure,
I saw it. The escape I had been longing for.
Pictured in my day dream, there was a timeless,
overgrown path with sunflowers oozing from the sides in every direction.
Still, they seemed to be pointing something out to me.
Even in stillness.
Above me, a view of the sun worthy of tears. I felt the heat trickling
down onto me, as if the sun was offering a hug …
I’m honored, I said aloud.
Finally, straight ahead, I witnessed the emblem of my soul.
The one and only place to truly heal. The lone tree, right at the
end of the path. She had wild and tangled branches, as well as
tame branches. Branches so sturdy, you could tell they wouldn’t
budge, not even in the midst of furious winds.
I couldn’t tell at first glance, but the leaves and vines that decorated
this healing tree bled colors I had never seen before.
Metallic fluids sprinkled onto the bark, I watched for what felt like hours
until every inch of me became one with this centerpiece.
Until the tree remarkably and accurately resembled the inside of
A kaleidoscope.

The darkness, the path, the sun and her children, they all became
a part of me that day. As for the tree, well she was all of me at once.
She was still, with a busy heart. She protected her own structure until
She overflowed. Her body could no longer hold her pigments, not her’
Darks nor her lights.  She shed her bark until her madness was
Exposed.
I still go back to that place from time to time, to accept the emptiness before
reuniting with the sun, to follow the friendly path, to whisper with the winds,
And to remind my dear kaleidoscope tree that her layers saved me.

I held my breath again, a little longer each time
So that each exhale would present as a replica
Of relief, a feeling I could’ve died for
After the final exhale, pure thoughts of an icy ocean breeze  
slipped through my fingertips. My heart fluttered, as the image in my mind
crumbled into a black screen.
How, I thought to myself.
How could my mind possibly empty itself this way?
I am the woman who lives inside of her head,
My thoughts race like ready boulders tumbling down
A steep mountain, looking for something to defeat.
Usually.
Without a hostile mind, I didn’t know who I was...
The calmness of my newfound vision felt more like loss,
An empty and indestructible form of longing.
I attempted to open my eyes and abandon the memory,
but just as I prepared myself for spiritual departure,
I saw it. The escape I had been longing for.
Pictured in my day dream, there was a timeless,
overgrown path with sunflowers oozing from the sides in every direction.
Still, they seemed to be pointing something out to me.
Even in stillness.
Above me, a view of the sun worthy of tears. I felt the heat trickling
down onto me, as if the sun was offering a hug …
I’m honored, I said aloud.
Finally, straight ahead, I witnessed the emblem of my soul.
The one and only place to truly heal. The lone tree, right at the
end of the path. She had wild and tangled branches, as well as
tame branches. Branches so sturdy, you could tell they wouldn’t
budge, not even in the midst of furious winds.
I couldn’t tell at first glance, but the leaves and vines that decorated
this healing tree bled colors I had never seen before.
Metallic fluids sprinkled onto the bark, I watched for what felt like hours
until every inch of me became one with this centerpiece.
Until the tree remarkably and accurately resembled the inside of
A kaleidoscope.

The darkness, the path, the sun and her children, they all became
a part of me that day. As for the tree, well she was all of me at once.
She was still, with a busy heart. She protected her own structure until
She overflowed. Her body could no longer hold her pigments, not her’
Darks nor her lights.  She shed her bark until her madness was
Exposed.
I still go back to that place from time to time, to accept the emptiness before
reuniting with the sun, to follow the friendly path, to whisper with the winds,
And to remind my dear kaleidoscope tree that her layers saved me.

I held my breath again, a little longer each time
So that each exhale would present as a replica
Of relief, a feeling I could’ve died for
After the final exhale, pure thoughts of an icy ocean breeze  
slipped through my fingertips. My heart fluttered, as the image in my mind
crumbled into a black screen.
How, I thought to myself.
How could my mind possibly empty itself this way?
I am the woman who lives inside of her head,
My thoughts race like ready boulders tumbling down
A steep mountain, looking for something to defeat.
Usually.
Without a hostile mind, I didn’t know who I was...
The calmness of my newfound vision felt more like loss,
An empty and indestructible form of longing.
I attempted to open my eyes and abandon the memory,
but just as I prepared myself for spiritual departure,
I saw it. The escape I had been longing for.
Pictured in my day dream, there was a timeless,
overgrown path with sunflowers oozing from the sides in every direction.
Still, they seemed to be pointing something out to me.
Even in stillness.
Above me, a view of the sun worthy of tears. I felt the heat trickling
down onto me, as if the sun was offering a hug …
I’m honored, I said aloud.
Finally, straight ahead, I witnessed the emblem of my soul.
The one and only place to truly heal. The lone tree, right at the
end of the path. She had wild and tangled branches, as well as
tame branches. Branches so sturdy, you could tell they wouldn’t
budge, not even in the midst of furious winds.
I couldn’t tell at first glance, but the leaves and vines that decorated
this healing tree bled colors I had never seen before.
Metallic fluids sprinkled onto the bark, I watched for what felt like hours
until every inch of me became one with this centerpiece.
Until the tree remarkably and accurately resembled the inside of
A kaleidoscope.

The darkness, the path, the sun and her children, they all became
a part of me that day. As for the tree, well she was all of me at once.
She was still, with a busy heart. She protected her own structure until
She overflowed. Her body could no longer hold her pigments, not her’
Darks nor her lights.  She shed her bark until her madness was
Exposed.
I still go back to that place from time to time, to accept the emptiness before
reuniting with the sun, to follow the friendly path, to whisper with the winds,
And to remind my dear kaleidoscope tree that her layers saved me.