Dream Walks in the Parks

Gopal Lahiri

Gopal Lahiri

‘I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.’ - Mary Oliver’

Ashland State Park, Massachusetts

There is something immensely satisfying about being able to greet the green canopies as you visit the state park in Ashland, Massachusetts. Pine and oak trees are lined up all around inviting you to a world of calm and peace.

And then those blossoming trees stand unruffled in summer heat. It is a strikingly beautiful and wild. Birds are tweeting all along. 

The narrow trails encircled the large lake and I walked along the trails strewn with tree roots in sun scorched Pine and Oak Forest. At times I was under unbroken blue skies and the landscape got alive with rare butterflies and bees. 

In other part there was a white sand lake beach where holiday makers were indulged in swimming with the children. Some were rowing boats. A long upward stretch and I could see people making dishes in grill and enjoy food and drinks. Loud music often destroyed the solitude. 

The stones all around could not speak for my suffering. I could not say like the poet Kathleen Raine, ‘And sleeping wake and flowing are at rest.’

After a long walk in the shadows, I could reach the open lake taking a different route. The water was pristine on this side and surely a balm for hot, tired limbs.

Lincoln Wood State Parks, Rhode Island

I wandered out into the warm evening in the park. This beautiful park was located in the Rhode Island. The trees here were long-legged, each one more lovely than the other. The circular route along the lake was rocky and the quiet landscape grew steadily more rugged near the water. I walked in a zigzag path to reach the shore. 

Fishing in the lake was a pastime for the visitors and even children were trying their luck to catch a tiny trout. Here also there was a wide white and beach and hundreds of people were enjoying their bath in the clear water.

It felt like a dreamy film set, too perfect to be real. The shadows of the trees turned magical and the rocky outcrops went just out to the lake water, adding drama to the clearest of water in the twilight. 

Perhaps an appropriate end to my wanderings at this green factory. 

At places the lake broadened into a leafy lake area- an area of outstanding natural beauty. I thought of a unique landscape. this coastal scenery will stay with you for a long time.

I measured my footsteps during the walk yet I noticed the twirl of leaves and the whistle of the winds, the unevenness of the paths and the abundance of nature.my walks weave through breath-taking vistas and a storied past.

It is what I was born for- to look, to listen to the silence.

I remembered Octavio Paz,

the moment scatters. Motionless,

I stay and go: I am a pause. (Between Going and Staying)

………………………………………………………………………………….

Gopal Lahiri

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Setu, July 2023