“AUTUMNAL MARSH”

With the summer crowds gone

The marsh is a place for quiet retrospection

Nature at its finest form all around

Great expanses of mud and lush green marsh grass, stretch as far as the eye can see.

When observed by someone with a pen and an imaginative mind, this great plain of grass becomes a new   

                                  frontier to explore.

Seen from a higher perspective, the area is alive with intermingling                                channels of greenish bay waters.

These channels bring life to the marsh much the same as veins and                                arteries bring life giving blood to the human body.

You must love the sun in this large tract of land, as there is no shade.

The sky, a deep shade of sapphire blue, only magnifies the intensity of 

                                   the sun.

That sun, now in its mid-day position, is a blinding tangerine red ball

                                 which radiates a blistering furnace like heat.

This heat, in combination with the humidity, (its not the heat, it’s the 

                                  humidity), saturates the clothing, overwhelms and

                                makes breathing difficult.

The heat and blinding glare is offset somewhat by the comforting 

                                 coolness of a slight breeze coming out of the 

                                 southeast, the direction of the ocean.

The bay is a sparkling emerald green, and the gently lapping waves

                                 against the shore of the swamp, seem to be 

                                 inviting me in for a refreshing dip.

Now that summer has ended and the throngs of hikers, explorers and 

                                 fisherman have departed, Nature can settle down

                                 to its regular routine.

No more does Nature have to worry about the ravages of man and his

                                world here.

In the distance, the sea-hawk, with a wing spread close to that of the 

                              majestic eagle swoops and dives on its future meal.

Its prey may be one of the many crabs skittering across the muddy quagmire below.

Or it may be one of the unattended eggs that have left to hatch in the got sun by the feathered tribes of gulls.

Ducks and geese can be seen sharing a small tidal pool.

The ducks are flapping their wings and diving below the surface of the green water, searching for food.

The geese are the smart ones in this scenario: they just loll around on the surface, soaking up the sun’s warming rays, and wait for the ducks to bring up the food, so they can steal it for themselves.

The honking geese, quacking ducks and screeching gulls are a constant reminder that you have the world of man behind and entered that private isolated world that is Nature.

The only drawback of the beauty around you is the swarming, bloodsucking attacks of mosquitoes. They engulf you in a thick fog.

But even this is a minor irritation when one reflects on the over-all beauty of Nature surrounding you.

The mosquito, like all other inhabitants of the Natural world, is just another of Mother Nature’s children. It is to be revered, like all animals, for being able to co-exist in the harsh world of man.  

To the venturesome, the many unexplored areas of the marsh offer mystery and discovery.

Maybe something that has yet to be viewed by human eyes can be found? A swamp monster? A UFO landing field, or just maybe an old

rowboat mired and sunk under the murky waters of the back channels

many years before.

Whatever one discovers or does not discover, the effort will not have been in vain. They will, during their explorations, find the absolute wonder, the seclusion and seductiveness of Nature in its finest form.

To some, like me, the marsh, devoid of humans, is a place to be alone to commune with Nature and my own thoughts…