Nature’s Release
Her mind would not surrender;
The night kept dragging on.
Concerns and obligations—
She struggled towards the dawn.
When finally came the sunrise,
She took a drive from town
To venture into landscape
Where Nature wears a crown.
The stillness of the morning,
A lake, serene and calm,
The sky, a softened azure,
Bequeathed to her a balm.
Her thoughts began subsiding;
She breathed as if asleep
While gazing at reflections
Of hills on waters deep.
The air held no disturbance,
But offered Nature’s grace,
A promising assurance
That stress would leave no trace.
The freshness of the morning
With innocence to please
Had washed away her tension;
Her spirit felt the ease.
Infused with Nature’s tonic,
She made the short drive home.
A Peace caressed her senses,
A magnified Shalom.
Margaret Brinton has lived in San Diego’s inland valley area for over forty years where she taught and tutored. Her poems have recently been published in California Quarterly and Westward Quarterly and The Lyric with upcoming work in the greeting card industry. She has previously been published in the Penwood Review and many other publications.
Margaret, I think this is a delightful expression of the soothing power of Nature: an uncomplicated, innocent statement of an experience so many of us have had and can remember. To read it is in itself calming. And a great photograph. Thank you so much.
Margaret, I feel this is personal and may reflect California on a calm spring morning. Having lived in California for a while, I enjoyed the fresh mornings there. In any event your poem is like a “balm,” as you put it.
Lovely, Margaret, both the poem and the sentiments
you have so beautifully described.
When life gets to you, you need a place like tis.
Thanks for the read, Margaret.
to Martin, Roy, JD, and Paul,
Thank you for your kind comments, gentlemen!
Margaret, what’s remarkable in the comments already made, is the emotional reflection of the lake in the poem. Nature’s power soothed the senses and thereby stilled the mental stress you describe in the first stanza. The troubled mind thus absorbs Nature’s own soothing power and conveys it to other spirits through words. Not just any words, but ones capable of “repeating” Nature’s Peace and Shalom.
Thank you , Margaret C. for finding something meaningful. I appreciate that!
from Margaret B.
Margaret, what a beautiful reminder of the healing gifts in nature. The views and sounds and smells and feel of the seashore do that for me. Thank you for sharing your experience with such lovely and powerful words.
Thank you , Jan, for your supportive feedback on my work.
A good reminder we should interact with nature more for its positive benefits to the mind and body, I know I should. Thanks for sharing.
It is good to have your favorable comment, Paul. Thank you!