TREES

I walked quietly through an orchard of over grown trees, reminiscing of when I was a little girl. I remember quite vividly prancing about wild amongst them..
Trees then as now littered the landcape with a primal lush as fallen leaves mingled with the nutty smell of moist earth.
There was no tarred or paved roads, only chalky, white limestone with lose gravel of sand and tiny rocks that cut hard against the heels of my small, bare feet.
Thick green foliage filled up the space against a bright, blue sky. Here was a garden I could dream away in for hours on end within my private world of imagination.
One moment I would be a pirate fighting an army of British seamen, breaking off a stick of limb for a sword, holding it upright then attacking the arms of the other limbs with full bravado.Finally with a determined thrust, I would lunge foreward into its trunk with a victorious plunge ...
Next, I would climb onto its bark, bare foot clutching each branch until I found a suitable place to safely perch myself. It had become my space ship traveling to far off lands, leaving behind earth into new worlds full of galactic adventure..encountering alien creatures and occasionally other inhabitants like myself..
Exausted from the adventure, I 'd stare blankly upward, eyes taking me higher to the top, through its leaves and into a fluff of clouds . I would imagine floating lightly on them as if they were soft cotton balls, drifitng slowly as they passed by......
Children have beautiful minds, creating worlds from everything.
I thought for a moment how I seldom saw them climbing trees anymore or playing happilly with such pure spontaniety of joy...I longed to hear that laughter , I miss it with me which seemed such common place as a child...the pure laughter and joy from experience..
I think we may have lost something with progress...perhaps an innocense of childhood...but for the moment I felt protected under the coolness of the trees as I revisited these memories. The thought warmed me and I guarded them as special moments, belonging only to me...and in that instant I felt safe hidding within this secret world that I had once created for myself so many years ago...