Barefoot Chronicles: From Soil to Soul

Strolling the bright green land, fresh after a mighty rainstorm, soaking in the jubilant chirrups of newborn chicks, children's laughter echoing from the forest school, amplified by the raucous flow of our untamed creeks.

The fierce sun reclaims the sky as trees and creatures drip away the final vestiges of the rainstorm's moisture. The land comes alive once again, breathing through lingering pools of water.

Barefoot, I absorb the harmonious ballet of elements beneath me - the wetness, the warmth, the teeming vitality within the soil, all seeping through my soles, ascending towards my heart. I stand in awe, cognizant that every inch of the soil cradles more beings than humanity's headcount on this Earth.

A spider reconstructs her storm-ravaged web, while a mason bee diligently crafts her nest. Pawpaw trees unfurl tender brown leaves, and the air is suffused with an undeniable rhythm - the cosmic dance of life.

The weather patterns and extreme heat are far from normal, punctuated by torrential floods, and ferocious gusts of wind. Yet, life continues to flourish unabated, indifferent, yet deeply harmed by our capitalist delusions, spinning ancestral narratives far removed from the deafening pace of our cities or soulless confines of office cubicles.

In this pure, untouched beauty, there exists an ineffable wonder, a tantalizing mystery. A clarion call for a gentler pace of life, a nurturing world, beckons. An open invitation to connect, to belong, to share and cherish breaths of mutual respect, unconditional love lies here.

A true paradise, a liberated world existing within the elements – the water, the wind, the earth, the sun; sings an ancient prayer that patiently awaits our response.

I yearn to keep wandering, barefoot, allowing the whispers of the Earth, carried through my muddy feet, to keep shaping me and guiding my path.

Angell Deer