This morning, as Tyler and I tend to our woodland by a smoky fire, I look up towards the eastern sky in reverence and expectation of the rising sun. I wait in silence, watching the skies grow pale, and then lo! It arrives! Just a warm glow at first, then a glorious golden orb rising above the earth, warming our faces and bathing the world in its radiance.

At the very same moment that the sun appears, the silence in this winter wood is suddenly broken by a joyful noise we haven't heard for months: a solitary bird begins "sounding its barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." Seemingly in celebration of this morning miracle, it heralds the return of the sun.

This singular moment in infinite time, at this singular location in an infinite, expanding cosmos, takes my frosty breath away. I am left in quiet awe of this precious earth on which we live, and this beautiful land that I have the privilege of inhabiting during my lifetime. My heart swells near to bursting with love for this place.

Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.

Gary Snyder