Adventure Beyond the Cedars

Let’s go on a grand adventure, shall we?
Who knows, maybe we’ll have a great time!

I want to try something
It’s going to take a while
But I hope some friends will
Come along with me while they can
It won’t be easy
But I have to at least make an attempt
And it’ll be hell if I don’t have anyone
At my side 

By the time I’m wrapping it all up
Maybe I’ll have it all documented in a book
Complete with journals, poems
Maybe even some sketches 
And even some portraits if I’m feeling brave
Portraits of me, and companions!

I could write about the friends I meet
Both human and animal
Write haiku about the moments of discovery
Under branches and sunlight and sparkling stars
The flashes of insight
Sparked by watching how a leaf falls so gently
Or the tide ebbs and flows at my feet
As I stand at the edge of an ocean
(Or even just the river between my homeland and another)

I’ll sit in the sky again
Maybe visit castles and wonder
About the lives that struggled and died there
Then put that to paper too

I’ll return home
To forests and small fields
To winding roads now paved
Remembering when they were dirt and gravel
Content to not wander far for the rest of the journey

What remains of the adventure would be simple
Small
Hopefully content  

I don’t know how long the book would be
When I’m finished
None of us really know
Until the end, if that
Sometimes we’ll know
Whether by instinct
Or by one who divines with cold tools
Other times only those around us will see
The finishing strokes of keys or pen
I’m not sure which I’d prefer

A simple hard, thick cover; dark green
With tan embossed lettering
Could say:

The Rest of her Life
A Story of Stubbornness, Cowardice and Survival
By Under the Cedar Trees 

A dedication, perhaps the most important part
Could say:

To those who didn’t always understand me
But liked or at least respected me anyway
And who couldn’t always figure out what I was trying to say 
But still had enough generosity in their hearts
To let me tag along
You all brought happiness 

A little author biography
On the inner flap of the dust jacket
Could say:

By a person, mostly woman
Who didn’t know what to call herself
So she chose a name that wasn’t who she was
So much as a vague description of a place
From a time when the world was still so new
Where she once belonged the most
Who died as she lived — wondering
(Always wondering!)
What she missed 

February 21, 2025