I was alone in the soft night listening to the peepers announcing the coming of spring. Lost in thought I became oblivious of my surroundings and found my spirit joining in their chorus. I could feel the dampness of the swampy ground seep into my body and feel the sway of the reed that held me up. In my throat the glorious sound rose and fell joining with my fellow singers.
Back there, so far away, my body closed its eyes and slumped against a nearby tree to await my return. The moments ticked slowly away but I didn’t notice in the joy of announcing spring. As the choir sang, the reeds accompanied the song with the soft sound of swishing under the weight of our slight bodies. How wonderful, how marvelous it felt to be free of everything but our joy in the changing of the season.
How lovely it would be to stay here forever but to my regret I feel the sun slowly peeking over the horizon. Someone tapped my shoulder and gently urged me to rise. I seemed to faintly hear the words “wake up and go inside it is cold out here and you are wet.” I opened heavy eyelids and looked for the speaker but all I found was a ray of new born sunlight perching on a nearby branch. I turned my head and only the retreating shadows of night were visible. Reluctantly I climbed to my feet and moved toward home. How heavy my feet and legs were, how awkward the movement of this cumbersome body seemed to be. I longed for the past fleeting hours I had spent as a harbinger of spring and mourned the lose of the hours that I could have spent with my new friends if someone had not tapped me on the shoulder.