Canyon Voices
Emmalee Hirschi
I hear voices calling my name everywhere I go.
They tell me to look around.
The voice inside my head tells me to enjoy the world.
It tells me to be proud of where I live.
It tells me to go to Zion and take a hike.
The voices stop as soon as I walk out the door.
I take a look around and realize that I live in a wonderful place.
Then the voices start again.
They tell me to enjoy nature while I can.
Soon it had become night and i had spent the entire day outside.
I had been enjoying and only thinking of nature and the beauty that it shares with us.
As I slept, again I heard the voices calling me and telling me something, but what?
It tells me to go out!
I got out of bed and walked through the dark lonesome hallway that tried to drag me down under.
It’s like it wanted me to play.
The hallway looked like it went on forever…
Finally I got to the end of the hall to the window.
When I looked out the window all that I saw was gray mountains in the purple sky.
it didn’t look like much but the voice told me to concentrate.
It told me what to listen for.
I heard silence for a while.
Then I heard the wind whistle through the window.
Just then I woke up.
Every day I go outside in my backyard, all alone.
I hear a voice calling my name.
It asks if I’m enjoying nature.
I don’t answer. I just think it’s the wind.
It calls me again.
I lie down on the grass and look up at the sky.
I look at the birds and the bugs flying around me.
As I watch, the voices keep telling me to enjoy it as I can.
Then it hits me.
The voice is nature.
It doesn’t want us to hurt it, and wants us to enjoy it while we can.
I listen to the wind rush past me.
Everything keeps speeding around me, as if I wasn’t there.
Everything looks so peaceful at times.
As it got darker, I still lay there and looked up at the sky.
I see all the bright stars staring down at me.
As I walk up my steps, I hear the voice again.
It doesn’t tell me to enjoy nature.
It tells me thank you.
[box]This post is one of the winning entries in the Z-Arts 2013 Writing Contest and has been reprinted here with permission of the author, who retains the copyright. Opinions expressed in this piece are not necessarily those of the Zion Arts and Humanities Council.[/box]