Fathers Day Nature Poem

by Brad S.
(Pittsburgh, PA, USA)

My dad has always had a love of the outdoors. When I was young, our family took three or four trips each year in our camping trailer. Although we have outgrown the little camper now, we still take occasional trips together as a family.

Fathers Day in June is usually a good excuse for our family to enjoy a day trip outdoors. We pack a cooler of food and drinks and head to Cook’s Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania. During the two hour drive, we plan the day's activities and talk about past adventures.

As we get close, we can smell fresh oxygen in the air. Cook’s Forest is a State Park and has some of the last old growth forest in North America. Many of the trees are over 300 years old, and we always feel a sense of history there.

Fathers Day begins with the picnic lunch we brought, shared with news, stories, and laughs. Next we bring out Dad's gifts which we managed to hide in the car. He always acts surprised and says that he doesn’t need anything. But, of course, he opens the gifts and grins anyway.

After lunch we hike along footpaths and streams, looking up at the trees, and always on the lookout for wildlife. We stop along the way to read the information plaques, and sometimes stop at the massive boulders along the trail for a rest and quick snack.

We have come to know well our favorite spots, and can recall fondly how certain trees were just waist-high twenty years ago.

After an invigorating hike we stop by the sawmill to rest, and browse the curios and crafts in the gift shop.

Too soon it is time to head home, and all during the car ride back, we delay the return to our everyday lives by talking about our day in the woods.

Fathers Day In The Woods

We arrive before noon,
the second Sunday in June
to celebrate a day outside
in one of the rare virgin forests worldwide.

We laugh and we cry,
see the trees high in the sky.
Nothing is forever,
but I wish to extend this endeavor
every year forever.