Before I Leave
Outline
Bottle-green and blue, a salamanda crawls out from under their protection of leaves to sniff the air.
Time
A Short Time Before Noon
Place
Appalachian Mountains
Duration
Fifteen Seconds
Essence
Trepidation
Atmosphere
Apprehension
. . .
Before I leave this place, I become this place. This is not something I intend, or have any control over. It is my nature.
Here, in the mottled wetlands of stone and leaf, my skin transfoms to share the colours and shapes I encounter. I am the earth under rain.
Before I leave I am most at home. Whenever I leave a place I have grown into, I fill with uncertainty.
It will take some time to change again. To be the mirror of my world. To live well and with once more.
