I’m working at Long Branch today and sat down for a minute to rest in the woods. I had to share this lovely moment with you all.

I love the music of the birds in the woods and the way the sunlight dances on the ground as the leaves sway in the breeze, in the canopy above. It made me remember a Mary Oliver poem I read lately as well…

“When I Am Among the Trees” by Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.