Road to Echo Lake

The earth expanding right hand and left hand,
The picture alive, every part in its best light,
The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road, the gay fresh sentiment of the road.

O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me?
Do you say Venture not—if you leave me you are lost?
Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied, adhere to me?

O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you,
You express me better than I can express myself,
You shall be more to me than my poem.

I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open air, and all free poems also,
I think I could stop here myself and do miracles,
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like me,
I think whoever I see must be happy.


from Song of the Open Road (4), by Walt Whitman


Leaves are now coming out in abundance, along with lots of green things coming up out of ground. Star flowers are blooming, and this morning a yellow-rumped warbler was collecting nesting material on the ground outside the kitchen window. It's been foggy all day and this photo was taken shortly before the rain started. Wandering up into the woods below the Canada Cliffs I felt no need to go very far, but was content to just sit for awhile on a rock listening to things before heading back to the car. A fine day for extra coffee.