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The Boundary Waters
by Suez Jacobson
A long wait – almost 50 years – to learn
How deeply and completely
The wild magic of the Boundary Waters
Could burrow.
A self-identified mountain girl
Lost to still, flat black water
Contained by granite outcroppings
Layered in midnight green pines
Topped with iridescent spring birches.
In a place of pure stillness.
A quiet a city dweller doesn’t know
And a peak bagger doesn’t experience.
Savoring the indelible memory of
The night’s all-consuming darkness
Its lavish gift of stars,
The raucous cacophony of loons.
The fog and the suns
One in the sky
Another in the glassy flat water.
Silent contentment,
Gratitude,
Wild hope.
Suez, a member of the Board for Great Old Broads for Wilderness, is the executive producer and writer for the film "Wild Hope"—wildhopefilm.com. She is also professor emerita from Regis University in Denver.
Editor's notes:
“Wilderness Experienced” is our shared stories and musings about recent experiences in our nation's Wildernesses. Stories focus on the virtues of Wilderness and/or challenges facing the National Wilderness Preservation System. We want to hear your story! Learn more and submit a story.
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Comments 31
Great News!!!
I wish there were some pictures to accompany the Boundary Waters post. I've wanted to go there for about 50 years.
I could feel the silence as I read this. It reminds me of a trip my family took to a national forest several years ago. We stopped the car, turned off the engine, and listened to complete silence. The beauty of it stays in my heart. We must protect it and share it with future generations.
Lovely. Well put. True.
Suez, thank you for this fine strong poem, for its stark honesty, as it evokes the Boundary Waters region and your opening to it, gift-by-gift. You have given us the privilege of accompanying you on your journey. Carolyn Foote Edelmann, Lawrenceville NJ
I believe Boundary Waters should be protected for all future generations of humans to enjoy with their families.
Although it has been a few years since my last trip to the Boundary Waters, I took many Boy Scouts and others to the BWCA. It is a place of peace and quiet and beauty. Even the bears added majesty to that place. Thank you Suez for the reminder.
from one old broad to another - Thank-you Suez for such a wonderful expression of such a beautiful untouched piece of Wilderness! I,ve never been to The Boundary Waters but you transported me right there and added to my ever growing appreciation of Wilderness and Nature!
And now local politicians of both parties who don't remember the Reserve Mining Fiasco are falling all over themselves to get a copper/nickel mine just upwind and downstream of this beautiful place. The prospective miner is a subsidiary of a Chilean megacorporation, so a convenient bankruptcy is likely to end any claims for harm done. Only the federal EPA seems to be looking at the long-term consequences.
Suez, I love this poem! It captures so well the magic of the Boundary Waters that you and I both love! Thank you so much for your wild spirit.
What a lovely poem Suez. Thank you. I, too, felt I had to go there. At my age, fixed income, I don’t know if that I will ever get to see such a place. Still, what’s most important to me is that the Wilderness be there, whether or not I will ever get to see and enjoy it. That the Wilderness and its inhabitants be left alone. That the Wilderness Just Be.
Suez, your words touched me. They transported me to the place you wished me to visit, no vehicle required. Thank you for expressing your beautiful observations so eloquently!
What a beautifully serene and delightful sense of peace the pictured words brought to me. Thank you for sharing this with us
Thank you Suez.
We can all use more poetry in our lives ... and the the Land/Waters/Lakes all deserves lots of poetry...not enough can be said for these Treasured places on Earth. Thank You and keep it up!
Thank you Suez! Right now I'm 41 and I'm still a climber peak bagger. But I like watching the birds forage and court, and I look forward knowing that when my knees can't go as hard as I wish that I can still be a great old broad and canoe and kayak in beautiful places.
Beautiful! Makes it all come alive feels like I'm actually there.
Suez,. I appreciate the sense of Atonement with the spacious environment. I could feel your experience in my heart and my soul's acknowledgement as reality. Joy joy joy.
Good on you, Suez Jacobson!
So beautiful. I like you "great old broad"!