Tonight is a beautiful clear night in Colorado, and on the way home from a friend's house we had the windows down, letting the evening breeze blow past our faces.  The moon is almost full, and the stars are clear even though the past few days even though the past few days have been rainy.  The earth still smells of the moisture.  There are some nights that you can't help but feel awake, no matter how tired you are: nights that you long to run barefoot through open fields under the stars and feel the summer breeze in your hair, dancing by the light of the moon, all your worldly cares melted under the beams of silver.  Oh, to dance...

My heart leaves my body and I fly over the midnight plains, swooping over the prairies like a swallow, soaring up to the mountaintops.  The Rockies: land of enchantment to a girl of fourteen.  The scent of pine floats sweetly to my nostrils, and I hear the voices of the streams and waterfalls.  I would choose to live in this dream world, but inevitably I am called back to where I am sitting, back to my life.  I come back, and I remember who I am before I realize that I had forgotten. 

I look at the moon and I cannot help but think that this is but a taste of heaven.  In heaven we will dance barefoot under the moon, and our worldly cares will melt: not for a moment, but for all eternity.  Then we will truly be free. 

Copyright 2008 by Cherise A. You must ask me before using any of my stuff, and my name must appear along with the poem or post if you reproduce it.