Valley of Forgiveness
A Poem by Jen Patronas
On a warm Alaskan day, forgiveness arrives not through effort, but presence. This poem rests in the mercy of place and quiet.
The air was soft with summer and silence,
when the world remembered how to breathe,
I sat—
not to conquer, not to flee,
but simply to be.
Wildflowers bowed in gentle nods,
bees hummed old songs
for no one at all.
The breeze was made of lavender and memory,
brushing my skin like regret in bloom.
At my sides, two guardians,
one golden, one shadowed,
watching the hills for echoes
of stories I once tried to rewrite.
A stream nearby whispered
secrets only the soul could hear,
the liquid hush of joy,
the syllables of forgiveness,
soft-spoken and unafraid.
The mountains did not ask me
to climb or to explain.
They simply opened
without judgment or demand,
and I—
finally—
rested.
Jen Patronas (she/her) is a poet, veteran, and advocate for women navigating life after service. She holds a Doctor of Business Administration and spent twenty years in the U.S. Air Force. Her writing explores the intersection of trauma, nature, healing, and quiet resilience. She lives in Alaska, where she leads wilderness trips for women veterans and writes beneath mountain skies.
