Telling the Truth

low afternoon sun

illuminates interior–

hushed benediction

* * *

It’s October 2012.  My husband and I are with a couple of family members.  It’s late afternoon.  We’re walking back from the beach to the parking lot, on a trail through Oswald West State Park.  We pass trees in multiple configurations–from straight and upright to bent or twisted.  Many are covered with moss from thick fog that rolls in from the Pacific Ocean.

We pass several trees with hollowed-out space at the base of the trunk.  Some have twisted roots with pockets of air where the earth has eroded.  The trees reach high toward the sky, seeking light.  They seem to have been around for centuries, adjusting to the dim, seemingly haunted environment.

We’ve walked a good distance from the shoreline, away from rolling surf and the muffled sound of human voices.  Evening approaches.  The air takes on a hushed, cathedral-like quality.   Late afternoon sun filters into usually darkened spaces, and offers a silent benediction.

© Elouise Renich Fraser, 28 January 2015
Photo Credit, DAFraser, October 2012
Oswald West State Park, Oregon