Swampy Beauty

(Listen to this video's audio while reading.)

There is a small swamp in the woods about half a mile from my house. To me, it is one of the most beautiful and disgusting places in the world. The mud at the bottom is deep, and you don’t dare venture in for fear of losing your shoe in the muck of the bottom. I would never want to go in there. My legs and feet would feel trapped, suffocated even. You could never tell if the ground you are about to step on is solid or just a pile of muck waiting to suck you in. Untold creatures live in there: salamanders, snakes, and the worst of all, frogs and toads. I hate the frogs and toads that live there. (I hate toad and frogs in general.) If you think of all the debris, slime, and creepy-crawlies at the bottom of it, you just may find a bile forming in the back of your mouth. I know I do.

However, that swamp is one of the best indicators of the change in seasons. Every spring, little tree frogs that we call spring peepers come out, and every night they sing. They sound like little, other-worldly birds chirping all night long. (I like these frogs.) If you ever find yourself near a swamp or creek in central Pennsylvania in the summer, enjoy the lullaby they sing. In the spring daffodils and other flowers poke out from the wet ground, and green begins to appear on the trees and ground of the swamp. If the summer is particularly hot, the swamp will dry out so that only a thin layer of mud remains. In some places it dries and cracks forming a dusty layer. In the fall, thin ice crystals form in the mornings across the brown swamp water, a reminder of winter to come. In the winter, the ice locks down on that swamp and freezes it, allowing snow to lay across its surface.

I always look forward to driving past that little swamp. Maybe its because we don’t go past it often, or maybe because it always reminds me of spring no matter what time of year it is. It’s always a reminder of the fresh new life that can come from something ugly. It tells me that no matter how bad the circumstances look, something beautiful is bound to come from it.