Hmmm, where can we turn for a beacon of hope in these troubling times?
There is no shortage of troubling topics to turn my mind to at the moment. British PM Boris Johnston resigning as Prime Minister amidst a scandal. Patrick Brown disqualified from the federal Conservative leadership race due to allegations of wrongdoing. Chaos at the Pearson International Airport leaving travellers stranded or waiting for hours for delayed flights.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. But I am still on vacation for a few more days and would rather turn my mind to more pleasing subjects.
I am therefore choosing to look back a second time on my mini getaway last week to the Point Pelee area. I spent a few of those hours strolling around nearby Hillman Marsh Conservation Area and left with these treasured photos.
This view, perhaps the single most calming one from my mini vacation, shows interlocking islands of one particular marsh flower that clearly finds Hillmans to its liking. I do not know the name of the flower. But that matters naught. The image needs no labels.
I could have stretched out in the grass and gazed upon this panorama for hours. It was a quiet oasis that fed my soul and asked for nothing in return.
Immediately behind where I was standing on a boardwalk when I took the first photograph, I spotted this Bronze Copper butterfly at the marsh edge. It is a tiny creature easily missed unless you are on the lookout for such things as I always am.
Its wings were bashfully closed when I first spotted it. But it did me the grace of spreading its wings to display the warm orange patches with their black dashes and the purplish wing edges. I was fortunate to happen on that particular spot at the right time and perhaps only did so because of the time I spent admiring the view in the other direction.
Something appealed to me about this vista as I walked a berm bordered by drainage channels. Nature had framed the view perfectly for me and required only that I recognize the fact.
Left of the frame: the old, gnarled tree slowly expiring in the swamp. Right of the frame: The profusion of greenery in a younger tree in its prime. Bottom of the frame: The feathery grass sprouts standing like protective sentinels. Top of the frame: The cluster of smaller trees deeper in the swamp angling left toward I know not what.
Elegant scenes like these are snapshots of the divine so desperately needed amidst the madness that has gripped our world. I hope they bring you a bit of peace as you find your way around or through the turmoil that closes in our lives and threatens to derail us.
Nature is a mother and a healer and a beacon of hope so very much needed in these uncertain and disconcerting times.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
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Tags: Bronze Copper · Hillman Marsh Conservation Area · hope · metaphor · Michael Robert DyetNo Comments