Wild and free can be anything.

To me it is wandering in the woods off trail.

Eating fresh raspberries and blueberries

While listening for wild animals that may come.

As a young girl,

Taking off alone to

Ride that beautiful white mare

Bareback up mountainsides so steep

And through Forests so deep.

Her mane in my bare hands and my legs holding tight with every change in direction

And lunge.

Giggling when I turned corners and almost falling off

When she reared.

Finding bear tracks in mine upon returning back to where I

Started.

Catching the curious eyes of a lynx

And hearing the thump of a beaver tail,

The squeak of a porcupine in a tree.

The sweet smell of dirt and rain

And the silence of heaven in the wind singing in my ears.

Trusting myself and the earth.

In those wild and free moments

I died and was reborn again and again.

They saved me from death.

I understand now.