Squam: Where to begin?

Seriously, where to begin? I feel as though it will take me days, months, maybe even years to sum up all that Squam was and is and will be in my life. But I've got to start somewhere and this is as good a place as any.


I lay there
melting into laughter,
splintered wood under my back,
breathing cold dark air.
A star slid across the sky
and I thought,
this is it
this is life
as it's meant to be lived.
Here.
Now.
Blanketed by the Milky Way
and the love of good women
who never fail
to teach me
touch me
surround me with love;
heal me.

I closed my eyes
and those stars,
that lake,
the faces of those women
burned bright beneath my eyelids,
their imprint solid--
a night sky I can carry home
with the acorns in my pocket.