You are my life before me
and I am before you now.
You were there before my birth
and you will be with me on my death.
I stand before you now to contemplate
all that you have meant to me.
You breathed life into my soul through
your scents and your soft whispers.
Your shelter was strong
but full of peace and joy
I played before you, I played around you,
and I played in your houses.
You spurred my imagination;
You were a fort along the Nile
and protected me against crocodiles and hippopotamus
You saved me from robbers, and possums, and neighborhood rogues.
Outside Boulder, you reminded me that The Lone Ranger can ride again.
I hiked and biked among you and all of your brethren.
I picked your leaves and cones and drew pictures of world peace with you in mind.
And I always played, perhaps our greatest gift!
I have searched for many years
to recreate that moment as a five-year-old
with my corn-cob pipe and my bare chest,
when I first noticed you but I have never found your replica.
And now, I let go of searching for that moment frozen in time.
Instead, I acknowledge all of the joy
and all of the wisdom that we have shared and created together;
this wisdom that is larger than the two of us, that soars with me and
All that is before me.