There is a place in my thoughts that I return to again and again to retreat from the world outside.  It is a place that was born from mixed memories of past places visited when out in the forest.  I have been to so many beautiful places in the forest.  Places where the sun shines down through the branches of the poplar trees on a warm summer day, making dancing light and shadows all around.  Places where the cool water of a stream flows by, trickling over mossy stones.  Places where the wind blows freely, rustling the leaves up above.  In my memories, these places flow together, forming a single place that I return to often when I need to quiet my mind and ease the worries of this world.  It is a healing place that brings me the peace I need for my soul to speak. This is a place known only to me, for it exists only in my mind, and yet it is as real to me as any place I have visited.  I hope that you have a place like this to retreat to in your memories when you need some quiet time alone…

Retreat
By Krista Longeway

I retreat into a world of my own
Deep in a peaceful forest all alone
‘Tis a place where nature whispers to me
On the breath of the wind that blows so free

I sit beside a gently flowing stream
Watching the water go by like a dream
As the water flows over mossy stones
I listen to its sweet melodic tones

I look up at the leafy canopy
Where birds sing in the branches above me
Bright sunlight shining down through the green leaves
Making dappled shadows dance with the breeze

The peaceful beauty of this secret place
Wraps me gently in her loving  emrace
It is in this place that nature will start
To ease all my worries and heal my heart