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The first image that popped into my mind when I read BG's challenge "Solitutde" was a picture of a forest covered in snow. For me, growing up in southern Oregon, many of my good childhood memories were of times when my family would go snowmobiling and we'd stop, turn off the machines and just take in the glorious pristine cold solitutude. Later on, cross-country skiing also brought me into incredible awesome snowcovered forests, ice covered ponds, Mt. McLaughlin's snowy peak...

The second thing that came to mind was the first poem I memorized in sixth grade...Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. For me, that poem brings both thoughts and feelings of solitude together for me. So...guess what...power of Google...I happened upon some guys blogspot and he has already put it all together in one perfect spot. He's done a better job than I could have and so that's why I'm posting his link here. enjoy!

As i was walking along a dirt road in Kansas,with fields of sunflowers on either side and the stubble of the winter wheat still in the fields i could feel the solitude of the prairie as it once was.Smelling the earth
and hearing the last bees of a late summer as they hummed while suckling necter from the flowers
on the stalk brought about such an inner peace that it actually brought tears to my eyes. To be atuned to nature and become one with it,with out any traffic noise or pollution of any kind is just the magic that
an old soul needs. The perfectly quiet,with only the trill of a bird or the call of a crow to a mate and the loping of a coyote in perfect harmony with his surroundings while he is hunting for a meal of field mice.
The wind in the trees as it whistles a perfect melody and the smell of fall in the air with the rustling of the corn shocks dried to near perfection for harvesting the ears.
Im forever humbled by mother earth and all the gifts she gives so freely,the beauty of a thistle with its
perfumed head all purple and glorious. Year after year she never tires of new birth in spring,so that life
for some of her creatures as well as us humans have what we need for survival.There is nothing as sweet
as walking barefoot in newly plowed fields and picking up a handfull of dirt and breathing in the sweetness
of a morning dew as it evaporates into the air.

Wonderful, as always, everybody. Thank you.

True solitude comes after the loss of a loved one,i was thinking of my brother Mark that was murdered
on the 6th of May 2008 late one night and all my feelings and a few visions i have experienced after his
still unsolved murder came from someplace deep inside.
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I have heard the cry of the owl in the night,the
lonesome trill of the whipporwill as it sits right on my windowsill.

Have seen the Cardinal with its breast as bright
as Christs Blood,as the tears flow in a fair flood.

The smell of the Earth as it consumed a good man of worth,whose life was cut short by death too
soon after birth.

\The taste of the Rain,as it washes away the stain
of a scene so grisly it still brings great pain.

The touch of hearts from near and afar as they
stood together behind a long black car.

A place of great beauty,a pastoral scene,with
gently flowing water that should feel so serene
was scarred by murder by someone so mean.

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I have seen the jack that was a real ass...

Have watched the Chameleon change so many times.

Have heard the Magpies cackle with laughter.

Have listened to the Mourning Dove sing its song of death and found the feather of the black crow that floated upstream in the rain of tears.
Was rewarded with a tiny white feather from an
ANGEL that visited in the dead of night to bring comfort and let me know he was alright.

I have seen a sight on a wall,a bright light
that tells a story of fright,a tomstone so cold
standing alone not in a row,adorned with a hat
surrounded by flames from a truck so forlorn and torn.

I picked up a crystal so clear,that brought many a tear as i witnessed the face so clear of a lost
loved one i held so dear. And for just one moment he felt so near. The second crystal was of amber and gold,the colors of flame after one is no more.

Have had visions of quest with dreams of a man
and his son standing shoulder to shoulder as the angel of death brings another sister home to rest.

These are but a few of my memories from May 6th 2008
and the days that followed my brothers murder. As the
one year anniversary of his death approached i found myself thinking back to those early days more often.
I cant help but ask myself,did i see something or hear something that could be a clue to who could have done this and why.

Thanks all...tikimom...the images and music were awesome. Love the poetry and photos....Good job BG on this challenge!

ALONE

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then–in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life–was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

Edgar Allen Poe