1. I took a walk in the forest (for your garden)
I took a walk in the forest. I turned, thinking that I would see you standing next to me. It was funny. I thought there was going to be a fight. I wanted to ask you a question. I put my hands out. I thought about a million different things at one time. I took another long walk. I tried to find something that I’d lost on the floor of the forest. I was certain that something was going to happen. But what was going to happen? I kind of needed to know. I put my hands out. You were growing up very quickly. It was a brand new day. I put my hands out. I had to keep still. It was a more or less ordinary day. There was nothing special about the day, at that point. I looked up and down a row of trees in the forest. I tried to get a good idea of where I was standing in relation to the trees in the forest. I wanted to ask you a question. It was morning. We took a walk and talked to each other. I was going to ask you a question. I put my hands out. Unexpectedly, I needed to steady myself. I stood on a path in the forest, near a row of trees. I put my hands out. We stood very near a row of trees in the forest. There was something I wanted to say to you. I put my hands out. The day was cold. I put my hands out. It was a golden morning. It was going to be a very beautiful day. You put your hands out, too. I stood on a path in the forest, right next to a row of trees. I wore a warm coat. I asked you how long you had lived in that part of the forest. You could see me from where you were sitting on the stump of a tree. I’d waited a long time for just the right moment. In fact, it was the perfect opportunity. I put my hands out. I asked you a question. I was able to keep very still, at that point. There was something I wanted to ask you about. I put my hands out. The morning was cold. I stood in the forest and waited for you to come home.
2. It was funny (using ashes in the garden)
It was funny. It was like I could hear everything you were thinking, at that point. I turned and told you that it was like I could hear everything you were thinking, at that point. It was funny. I put my hands out. I looked at the sky. We knew each other very well, at that point, I thought. It was funny. We sat on the chairs in the garden. There was a bird in the tree in the garden, singing. I asked you if I could come over. I wanted to come over. It was funny. I was still not quite awake. I wondered what we were going to do that evening. It was funny. I liked the song that was playing on the radio. It was funny. We were thinking exactly the same thing at the same time. I could have said just about anything I wanted to, at that point. I was feeling a little bit frustrated. There was something I wanted to ask you about. I put the music out of my mind. There were very many things we needed to discuss that day. I looked around the garden. I wanted to ask you a question. It was a very nice day. The day outside was very bright. I could see you from where I was standing in the garden. I put my hands out. It had been a very long day. It was funny. It was getting later and later, at that point. I was feeling a little bit frustrated. I wanted to ask you a question. It was going to be a beautiful day. There was something I wanted to ask you about. I put my hands out.
3. I was waiting for you (best used)
I was waiting for you. It was a bright and beautiful morning. I put my hands out. I was going to say. I was going to tell you. There was something big coming on the horizon. You wanted to ask me a question. If I were to wake up early enough in the morning to forage a wholesome forest breakfast, I thought. I could see that we were not going to get a lot done that day. I put my hands out. The sun rose in the sky. It was a question of privacy, at that point. There was a bird in the tree in the garden. I saw that it was going to be a very beautiful day. There was a lot to think about. There were very many things to consider, at that point. I put my hands out. I put my shoes back on. I could see you from where I was standing in the garden. I couldn’t hear myself think. I wanted to ask you a question. I put my hands out. I was sure that the world was going to explode, that the forest was going to go up in flames, at that point. I was sure that there was going to be explosions and hands and arms flailing. And this was the world, I thought. It was a real part of me, too, I thought. It was like I was standing in a corner. I was not going to let myself think of anything more important than that, though, I thought. I put my hands out. Yet I was in charge of that moment of the day as surely as I was in charge of anything else, I thought. Like I was in a circle. I couldn’t believe in a cloud, though. Could you believe in a cloud? I wanted to ask you a question. I was feeling a little bit frustrated. I put my hands out. We were never wrong. You’d said as much, too. You said that it had been a long day, and that we only ever made matters worse. It was funny. I wished that I’d had a plum, something healthier than what I had been eating, for breakfast, at that point. The summer was going to be warm and beautiful, I thought.
4. It was going to be a very beautiful day (either, lightly scattered)
It was going to be a very beautiful day. I put my hands out. It was summer. If I looked across the forest floor, at that point, I might see a million little floating things in the sky, I thought. You said that you were not going to complain, that complaining only ever made matters worse. I only asked that things be kept in good order, I said. Everything was going to happen in due time, I thought. There was no question of running late, of making a mess, you said. It would not have occurred to me to challenge the way we were doing things, at that point. You sat on the stump of a tree in the forest. I put my hands out. The sun shone brightly in the sky. It was a brand new day. I wondered what we were going to do that evening. It was funny. The day was brand new. I looked across the forest floor. There was definitely something new in the air, I thought. It was summer, a brand new season. The sun shone brightly above the forest floor. There was definitely something new in the air, I thought. I wanted to ask you a question. I put my hands out. You wanted to ask me a question. There was a song playing on the radio. I put my hands out. I was in the garden. The day was going well, at that point. Things were going well, in general, I thought, at that point. I felt good. I pointed my finger at the sky. I wanted to ask you a question. I put my hands out.
5. The sun rose over the forest (or by first being)
The sun rose over the forest. You stopped what you were doing and asked me a question. I thought that I’d put my best foot forward, at that point. I put my hands out. It was going to be a very beautiful day. In the meantime, time was passing very quickly, I thought. I could have done a lot of things differently, thought, at that point, I thought. I took the ring from my finger. I had begun to look at the forest in a very different way. You said that you agreed with the way I felt about the forest, at that point. It was going to be a very beautiful day. I put my hands out. I wanted to ask you a question. I lifted my shirt. I looked at the scar on my stomach. I could see you from where I was standing on the path in the forest. Your position was somewhat fixed, at that point, I thought. It was hard to think of asking you to move, at that point. However, I took the coward’s way out. I was feeling a little bit frustrated. I felt good. I was in the middle of the forest. It was a brand new day. I took another long walk. I pointed my finger at the ground. You smiled at me. It had been a very nice day all around the forest. It was a brand new day. You looked at me. It was like the very first day all over again, like the world was brand new. However, I was concerned that you might have felt a little bit trapped, at that point. It was a brand new day. I wanted to ask you a question. We took a walk in the forest. I put my hands out.
Featured Image: “Mathscape,” by Anne Burns, via Recursion in Nature, Mathematics and Art
