Your earthy ground is soft under my feet. The brown fallen needles tingle gently. The smell of recently cut pine trees hugs me and the fresh, citrusy and green scent is thrilling.

I follow your tiny trails, strolling through pine trees of different sizes with tall grasses tingling on my calves. The faint sound of twittering birds and the wind rustling the leafs.

I embrace you and you embrace me. ...

Blue lake, deep as my sadness,

You know my promise,

my best kept secret,

my soul…

Dark lake, still as my prayers,

the ones I only whisper

when lights are slowly drowning

into you…

White light, where can I find him?

It’s cold and dry the land

beneath it…

It’s lonely like my heart

that misses the waters..

My blue lake - just a remembrance

of love that seems forever

but dies under the cruel sun…...

The Red, orange, yellow leaves

Crunch under my bare feet

The autumn glow shines on the tree bark

The call of a distant lark

And then I feel something squish below

A brown sticky substance on my feet does it go

What is that? I wonder aloud

It’s a pile of squirrel poop, large and round

It came out of a squirrel’s bottom

Yucky, smelly, stinky, and rotten

And now I am stuck with it on my foot but ...

Dear Moon,

Let me offer you a covenant that you’ll be the last thing I see as I take my dying breath. If you agree, will you promise to shine a bit brighter as I bathe under your calming light? The sun is a constant that people rave about but you, my love, are neglected. They speak of the stars that shine in the sky beside you but never do they reach for your serene touch as I do.

When I am do...

Dear Nature,

You’re in the middle of transforming again and I guess I am too. You’re always changing though.

I’m not sure I’ve ever told you, but you’re one of my closest friends on this earth. What we share is something truly remarkable. You’re like me - in an ever-changing state. You’re always changing and if I’m not careful, I might just miss it.

I don’t think I’ve ever properly thanked y...

His Royal Highness

Heir Apparent

Prince Camryn

House of Mermes

Mother House of DeepWater

Cam,

I said I would write. And I have so there.

Most Sincerely

Jannixa Jellcanz Strudgenhaus

Professor of Applied Mathematics, penultimate

Lead Chair, Trades & Strategy

Also known as Janx

Post script

Your third letter just arrived. You made me late to class and my assistant had to begin without me. Me, lat...

My love,

I love you.

Isn’t this how I’m expected to start, with some dramatic declaration of love? But to say those words, those three words seems to simple. They seem wrong, they seem … almost easy. But love isn’t supposed to be easy, it’s not supposed to be simple. It’s supposed to be warm and comforting, troublesome and traumatic, filled with the potholes of life that come along and take one ...

My old friend mister evergreen

You stand so mighty and strong

The shadows you cast down on me

Reach out so far and long

Under your robust arms of pine

I can find shelter from the heat

Your trunk provides my back support

And your needles work great as a seat

While under your cool, calm shadow

My poet thoughts are set free

Although there May be hundreds like you

Your are my favorite pine tree

...

Darkness gets a bad reputation, and sunlight is undeservedly praised. But you - the soothing shadow of a tree - to you I give my praise. You are a comfort, an escape, a refuge from the summer heat, a hiding place from predators. I know that I can turn to you, and for that, I appreciate you. I know that you can never be destroyed, and for that, I admire you. I know that you will hold me, and for th...

Dear clouds, the way you float around

Makes the wind a magical sound

Your curvaceous poofs

Are so big at noon

And the sun makes everything golden

Without it we would be the cold ones

The trees rock from side to side

It’s where all the birds hide

The birds sing till it’s time to fly away

Where it’s warm, it’s miles away

But soon they’ll return

And we’ll no longer yearn

For their sweet mel...