Thoughts of a Sprite

Monday, August 15, 2005

The River

So I went kayaking this weekend, photos to follow, and it was heavenly. When you are out there, the world and all of its worries just melt away. It is just you and nature, water, oars kayak. It is beautiful, exhilarating, peaceful. It was just what the doctor ordered. That was the first time we have been able to go this year, but it was well worth the wait! We did a 12 mile run on the Alafia river, near Tampa. It was like taking a trip back in time. Aside from the few nature park pull off signs, and a few sets of stairs, there was no sign of civilization. We saw a baby alligator, which I am sure Lar will post pictures of, turtles, birds, and butterflies. We had a few "rapids" to contend with (nothing like the Samon river, and Chitenango would scoff at calling this rapids) Fallen trees to navigate, we even stopped at one point to climb a "picture opportunity" tree... It was great, there were two palm trees coming up out of the water framing this one huge tree limb that hung low out over the water. The pictures did not come out well, but we are going to try to fix them. Getting up was not too hard, especially after Larry said I probably could not do it... haha, way to motivate bro! Getting down was a bit more difficult, even with my knee brace on, but neither of us fell in, or impaled ourselves on the Cypress Knees below. Not an hour after we were back, I wrote the following:

The River

The river twists and bends
Washing away all of my sins
Sun smiling down upon me
Paddling on, I am free

Water rushing beneath my oars
While above, the eagle soars
All my troubles melt away
The glorious thrill of a brand new day

Miles from civilization
Peacefulness sets in
Nature in all directions
Out here, everyone wins

Each curve reveals a new sight
The water rushing, churning, white
Adrenaline pumping, heart thumping
Arms strong, steady, always stroking

Through the rapids, under the tree
Kayak gliding, like a breeze
Simple satisfaction, goal achieved
Looking back, just to see

Reality slips for a moment
This phase in time, I own it
I am part of this scenery
I am, in this second, free

Time does not exist
There is no “to do” list
Just scenery passing by
Soul cleansing, redefined

Just for a day,
Troubles melt away
Miles from anything
My heart has grown wings

So, working backwards through my weekend, Friday night I went to Margaritaville in down town Universal/ Islands of Adventure. We had a good time, it was great to finally spend some time with Tara. After Margaritaville, we went to a club called the Groove, which would have been great if I was not the only one from our group dancing. Now I am not a great dancer, but it is all about having fun right? Well, a few drinks and good music, sets the stage for dancing, at least for me. Anywho~ we did not get home till like 4 am. fun fun. Then saturday, Larry and I cleaned the apartment, and headed towards Tampa to make ready for our trip down river on Sunday. We had dinner at Hooters, lovely scenary for Lar I am sure.

Well more to come later folks, I gotta get to work. Toodles

shes_a_sprite @ 2:24 PM.

2 comments

Oprayearth said...

Sounds like you had a great time and you deserved that time of awe.

-op

12:28 PM

Dano said...

That was an awesome poem. I would love to see the gator pic, cuz, you know, I live in Canada, so our gator population is nil. As for the palm trees, we have some on Vancouver Island, but it sounds great.

9:57 AM