I’d read Blueberries for Sal as a young girl. Robert McCloskey’s 1949 Caldecott winner, set in rugged Maine. And so I recalled that book many years later, spending three glorious days in Acadia National Park.
We spent our indoor time within the cozy confines of a knotty pine cabin. Mornings of hot steaming coffee mugs, looking out windows that opened to the northern woods. Bedtime, covered in faded down quilts, noses chilled as our fire turned to softly glowing embers.
Afternoon walks took us along the coastline, climbing over rock strewn paths with views of crashing waves. Trail number three turned inward, passed ruins of a wall, crumbled stones scattered in wild tall grasses. We walked through a dense birch tree stand. And in one magical moment, the wind whipped up and the canopy of branches swayed. Sunlight streamed in, creating a shimmering lacework overhead.
Our last evening, in denim shirts and hiking boots, we made our way at dusk to the top of Cadillac Mountain. We lie back and watched the sky turn glittering black. Specks of incandescence gleamed light years away. The only sound was our intake of surprised breath as a shooting star streaked from left to right, to another place in time.
sun light dances
through birch tree leaves and disappears
as stars skitter into view
Written for Haibun Monday at dVerse Poets’ Pub with Bjorn tending the virtual bar, asking us to write a haibun about a walk we’ve taken. Photos from Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor Maine.
lillian the home poet 
What a wonderful place to visit, To lie and look at stars and the birches sounds like perfect magic, also the crashing waves that I imagine as being something wonderful to have as company.
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Sun is finally shining in Boston! Will mosey over to the bar in a bit — and do my reading in AM with my hot coffee☕️
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Skittering stars…what a delightful image.. I think some of the most precious memories in a relationship can come from moments like these.
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Oh yes…I do agree! So glad you enjoyed this one.
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I visited Acadia a long time ago– when I was about 12 or 13– so this piece and your photos brought back a rush of wonderful memories. So many evocative images here. “noses chilled as our fire turned to softly glowing embers”, “ruins of a wall, crumbled stones scattered in wild tall grasses”, “Specks of incandescence gleamed light years away.” Thank you for this
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You’re most welcome! It is such a very special place! Did you have popovers at Jordan’s Pond there? 😊
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The haiku is wonderful. I love how it captures the moment of sunlight streaming through the birches. Fireplace weather always perfect time to me. the last line of the last paragraph delights me. Being a long time lover of the night sky and stars, this line wowed me. The rest of the haibun with its sights and sounds are perfection but those stars, that surprise. What an Oh! moment.
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Smiling I am .. I remember all you said about haiku and worked hard to have it truly fall into that genre 😊. So very glad you named it a haiku! Success!
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It’s beautiful there, and what better place to see a sunrise, than Cadillac Mountain.
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We loved Acadia. And we did collect wild blueberries too!
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What a view it is – to watch the sky turn black and see: shooting star streaked from left to right, to another place in time. Love the walk and the starlight viewing ~
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So glad to take you along on this walk with us! Glad you enjoyed.
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I’ve never been to Maine and you just brought it to life. The imagery!
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Smiling I am! Thank you for your kind words here!
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p.s. If I had a favourite tree it would be silver birches. Love that too
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I also love the quaking Aspens in Colorado! And weeping willows too. But this stand of thick birch trees – I’ve never forgotten that walk.
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I love National Parks, though I’ve never been to Acadia. Thanks for sharing your walk and the pictures. I like that you designated the trail you took as “Trail number three.” That one detail made the whole piece more real for me.
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Happy to take you here with me, Linda. I also love National Parks — I think they are celebrating 100 years since the first national park was designated. Places we must insure continue to be cared for so future generations can also enjoy!
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That line about noses getting cold as the fire turns to embers is wonderful. Very vivid.
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…and I’ve also enjoyed a cold nose when snuggling down into a sleeping bag with the stars above! City life is just not the same.
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…a shooting star streaked from left to right, to another place in time. I have traveled in a time and place very much like you describe — just not in Maine. The world beyond man-made lighting is truly another place in time. Sometimes I just long for a long walk into the woods. Or a major power outage. Great poem!
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Ah yes…..these places where light pollution is nonexistenet and one can lie back and commune with the stars — they are indeed wonderful! So glad you enjoyed this one!
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Beautiful world you live in Lillian, I felt part of it and another part wants to go there and experience it myself.
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We will travel again to Acadia this summer. It’s a very special place. We’re so lucky to have our National Parks.
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I enjoyed your beautiful haibun and photographs, Lillian.
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So glad you did, Lynn. Nice to see you here over my morning coffee 🙂
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…and I with my lemon ginger tea 😊
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love this shining haibun with streaming sunlight, breath of trees and magical star gleam…absolutely beautiful…
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…a shining haibun……what a wonderful thing to say 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind words here. So glad you enjoyed.
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I’ve always wanted to stay (or even live) in a pine cabin but we don’t have many of them in England. You’ve made the idea even more alluring, Lillian! I adore trees, always have done, and your haiku is a little hymn to trees.
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Ah….they are indeed cozy! 🙂 Happy you enjoyed this one. It was a very very special three days. We hope to return this summer! I love the idea of a hymn to the trees 🙂
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This is so inspiring and the park you write about and show with the photos and the link to the book make it a literary and natural gem!
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So nice to see you this morning over my morning cup. Yes indeed — Acadia is a very very special place. Glad you enjoyed!
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Sounds magnificent.
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Indeed it is 🙂
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You took me with you to a wonderful place. Thank you.
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Always happy to walk with you! 🙂 Ah this wonderful path called the blogosphere!
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Something I still want to/need to do: sleeping out under the stars. I sometimes leave my curtains open but it’s not the same.
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ah yes —- living now right in the city of Boston, the light pollution covers up the stars. Somehow neon lights and buldings left with lights on overnight just isn’t the same. But I have done that — we always took camping trips and especially loved staying in the national parks or national forests. There is just something about those stars blinking your mind to sleep …..
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Breathtaking. I want to visit this magical place. And I LOVE those skittering stars!
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smiling I am 🙂
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through birch tree leaves and disappears
as stars skitter into view
Day and night transformation beautifully narrated Lilian!
Hank
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So glad you enjoyed, Hank. It was fun to bring back the memories of this beautiful place. We’re now motivated to return again!
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You were very successful in taking me as a tag-a-long on this walk. The pictures you paint in your haibun have sent me a googling.
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Acadia National Park is truly beautiful. Maine has such a rugged coast. Glad you enjoyed!
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What a lovely experience! The haiku is particularly beautiful.
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So glad to take you to this special place!
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