Saturday morning in the woods

I was in the woods today with Jack. He walked off to see what he would find and I sat under a tree and drew cartoons and felt the presence of my beloved non-human friend Charlie. The woods were sweet and damp, but I could hear the sound of automobiles passing on the road below, and I felt the irritation of the sound on the spirits of the trees and on my spirit.

After a week of hard work in ordinary reality, I gently felt myself passing through the gate into the green world, and I wondered if Jack had also been able to relax and shake off the chains of the marketplace. I stood up, and there he was, walking towards me through the trees, all dressed in blue, with a big smile on his face. We came together and stood for a long time, hugging belly to belly, while the leaves rustled above us and sprinkled us with drops of water.

Someday, we vowed, we would be able to live in a woods where we could take off our clothes and stand naked and free before the Creator. There we would build a temple to our gods. It would be a sunny clearing in the woods, set about with stones and gardens of mushrooms and ferns. We would open our hearts to all the gods who served love and brought light to humanity and we would cast out the gods of cruelty, greed, and fear. In that space, the kingdom of love would be real, just as it was in that moment, under those trees, as it is wherever two human beings hold each other close with loving arms.

Have a great week!
Lilly

a cartoon I drew, from the 2004 elections