This Is Me Forever

Hey guys! I’ve got something a little bit different for you today. A few weeks back, I was asked to speak to a group of middle school students down at Kent Denver School. As a byproduct of our conversations that day, the class began a competition: each student {or group of students} was tasked with writing a blog post on anything to do with the outdoors. Then, everyone voted and the best post got to be published on my site.

Today is that day! The winner is Lindsi Reyes. Lindsi is a seventh grade student and Colorado native. Growing up in Aurora as the oldest of two brothers, Lindsi is proud of being bilingual, Hispanic, and passionate about being outdoors. Her earliest memories of getting out of the city meant long road trips with her parents, but that all changed last year when she challenged herself to a twelve mile hike on her sixth grade outdoor education overnight. Lindsi described the experience as “hard, but so satisfying.” Since then, Lindsi has been blazing trails across Colorado, taking every opportunity she can to experience the outdoors and, in her words, “feeling so lucky to be alive and appreciate the world around me.

Here is Lindsi’s poem. Enjoy!

********************

This is me forever

Backpacking, trail-running, hiking: anything that takes place outside where nothing is artificial is where my natural self comes out. The time capsule below is me opening up to my home. This isn’t just one instance; this represents two-thirds of my life. When I am outside, I feel alive, centered, wild. I wrote this because I know that even though I am going through the process of finding out who I am, this is a solid part of me that I will never question. I like that. I will never let go of this concrete passion. Since the moment I was exposed to these real things–to the many adventures that await me–this is me forever. 

Day floats into night

The sunset colors fade into the deep starred night

When the soil beneath my feet becomes part of me

Who you are?

Who we are?

Who am I?

Because the laughing witnessed by the trees of that picnic

Becomes everything I want for love and belonging

When the drops turn into showers and the whole sky starts to cry

The footprints left by the trail-runners disappear

I know this is the missing part of my puzzle

The fresh breeze kisses my cheeks,

I know

I know this is where I belong

I know this is what I want to be

part of  

The sun’s rays hug me

The lullaby of wind passing through the the leaves wiggles my ears

This is my place, this is where I’m from

This is so much more than me

This place extendeds my happiness

This place is me

The grass belongs to my feet

The trees are my legs

The mountain is my body

My arms embraces the sky

The sun circles my head

And that gleam around darkness fills my eyes

Here I am

And here I will stay.

********************

16 Comments

  • Reply Art at

    That poem makes ya wanna get out into nature. Thanks for the post, Lindsi!

  • Reply Emily at

    Great poem, Lindsi!

  • Reply Amy Johns at

    Great job, Lindsi! Keep it up!

  • Reply Casey Selover at

    Lindsi, I am so excited to see your thoughts published online! You translated your passion for the outdoors into such powerful writing. Heather, thanks for giving our crew of Kent Denver kids such an awesome opportunity. Way to inspire the next generation of outdoor adventurers!

  • Reply Nick Stromberg at

    Nice post Lindsi! not surprised that a lot of people voted for this one

  • Reply Todd Schayes at

    Linsi – I am SO proud of you and so proud to have been one of your teachers. Beautiful post!!

  • Reply Todd Schayes at

    Darn spelling – sorry LINDSI!!!!

  • Reply Anne at

    Wow! What a wonderful description of our connection with nature. Great work to Lindsi!

  • Reply Anagha Bharadwaj at

    Beautiful poem! Love it!

  • Reply Robert at

    Fantastic job Lindsi!

    Let the Outdoors continue to be a part of you, and you will always be a part of Nature.

    Season’s Greetings to all!

    cheers

  • Reply Lynn @ The Not Dead Yet Blog at

    Beautiful poem, Lindsi! Love the imagery.

  • Reply Patrice La Vigne at

    Impressive and beautiful Lindsi!!! I believe you have a future in writing …

  • Reply Jessie @ Chasing Belle at

    This poem is so beautiful and authentic. Thank you for sharing such a personal piece and inspiring other outdoor lovers like myself! I haven’t written poetry in a long time, I use to do it quite often when I was in college. This makes me want to stow away and start writing!

  • Reply Liz at

    Absolutely love the poem, Lindsi!!!

  • Reply Jerry E. Beuterbaugh at

    I hope you and yours had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and are looking forward to a very HAPPY NEW YEAR. May we display your header on our new site directory? As it is now, the site title (linked back to its home page) is listed, and we think displaying the header will attract more attention. In any event, we hope you will come by and see what is going on at SiteHoundSniffs.com.

  • Reply Robin EH Bagley at

    Terrific poem, Lindsi!

  • Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.