| “I WILL ARISE and go now” to where the healing waters flow,
“And a small cabin build there” high on steel to views unfold.
It will be within sight of hawk, osprey, eagles and crow,
Where the swamp chestnut oak on its limestone ridge
Grows stately strong and marks our home.

Our bridge to the river is framed by arching ancient southern friends,
The majestic live oak and the thirsty white oak their roots all content
Near the rich soils of the bottomland where the river ebbs and flows
And provides habitat for frogs, fox, deer, otter, beaver and bone.

I’ll live alone and be joined by friends to kayak in the morning fog,
Watch the heron glide through forest bold, see hawks hunting and hear crow.
My favorite is to swim or float
Suspended by the water’s temperate flow,
That keeps me warm in winter, cool in summer
Energized and in a glow.

Seasons bring delights of light, wind, color, leaves, needles, and flight,
The mighty bald cypress and red maple along with birds put on a show!
“There midnight stars a glimmer, and dusk a purple glow”,
Woodpecker and wild turkey call to roost and take it slow.

Afternoons are warm and bright
They take me to the waters light;
Where I can float or swim in pure delight
Among schools of mullet, bass and gar
With the gentle manatees in current’s hold.

The evening calm is accented by the moon’s cradle or full moon’s show,
The cicadas’ numbing chirp,
The owls hooting, and dreams so vivid and wondrous flow!
Morning light and sounds awaken my birth
To the beauty of this paradise, here on earth.

“And I shall have some peace there for peace comes dropping slow
Dropping from the veils of the morning”
Along paths the great herons, egret and kingfishers go.
Dropping like each turtle from a floating, fallen log,
Dropping like the needles, seeds, nuts and branches so.

“ I will rise and go now, for always night and day,”
“I hear” the living current flowing over dancing eelgrass and karst array;
“While I stand on the roadway or on the pavement grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.”