Poetry and photography from Brian Barbeito

Closeup of pink florets on a plant's large complex flower.

The Fourteen Days

(for Tara)

(Easy Co., Mercury Rules Virgo and Gemini, and the Birds in the Trees)

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We had fourteen days free and went to the forests each morning to walk. There was a car there that said, – EASY CO. and that was the car I happened to park behind one day, the last day actually. I took it as a Jungian synchronic sign as I used to buy Sgt. Rock comics often as a kid and his war group of soldiers were called Easy Company. I used to read each issue and also the letters of compliments and questions to the makers of the comic that they published at the back each issue. How I loved the adventure stories and the art, and one got to know each character of the comic through the years.

Inside the paths, the woodlands wild and whimsy driven and wondrous, I was walking with Tara, a Virgo. I am Gemini and we are the only two signs ruled by the same planet, Mercury, the fastest planet, the messenger, the one that denotes communication. The birds in the trees called out, and sometimes a squirrel ran away or a chipmunk. Verdant place. Kind atmosphere. A little too hot and humid those days for my liking. But the autumn would one day come. Still, we followed the idea of three S’s,…short, shaded, and slow,- when it was mighty hot. Sometimes a breeze came along. Sometimes not. Mostly empty area. But once in a while a solitary jogger, or an old couple, something. There, a heron that fishes for food by the still pond, and little groups of wild roses, where when their petals are absent the middle looks like a berry red.

I talked to Tara, about the things people talk about,- current events local and the greater world, plus spirituality, things like karma and dreams and journeys. Silence is okay also. Just the sight of the leaves. Or raspberries. Stones. The plain earth itself. The paths are often gravel but at times sand. Orchids are there, and ferns green and wild. I know where some snakes live, and I know all the trails through experience, time, steps. So does she. Little marshes and bogs,- the logs and an owl watching in the day if you are lucky. It’s not an ambitious worldly achievement, but there are worse things people do than nature walk. I loved the fourteen days. Talk walk see be. Believe contemplate meditate heal. Like love belong and dream. Ideas for writings, plus landscape photography, blossom often and well, yes blossom like the summer wildflowers. 

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