The Legacy That Lives On.

This past year, I was fortunate to visit many of our National Parks. In light of recent events and those yet to come, I saw it fitting and therapeutic to summarize some of those experiences. I hope you enjoy and can, at some level, relate. Cheers. 

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The Legacy That Lives On.
I have stood in the shadows of giants.
Wooded sentinels four times as wide as I am tall.
Counting the rings of a time gone by,
In a place where time stands still.

I have seen the edge of the canyon.
Layered bands of red rock and a history
as deep as it is wide.
Where ‘grand’ portrays more in feeling, than in name.

I have felt the simmering heat of the earth.
Spewing from the island gateway as
sulfur fills the sky in plumes.
A world, like a phoenix rising, new and powerful.

I have swam in the forests of the sea.
Brimming with life of all color,
shapes, and size.
Where diversity is as beautiful as it is resilient.

I have listened to the stories of the generations.
Of past and present. Of men and women. Of conquest and liberation.
Of those unafraid to rise up.
One nation united, despite our differences.

I have walked in the footsteps of Roosevelt and Muir.
Great and noble men who saw the world
as bigger than themselves and fought
so that others might too.

I have beheld my national and cultural identity.
Our collective inheritance and responsibility.
From sea to shining sea.
A legacy that now lives on in me.