Thursday, March 11, 2010

the quiet waiting

a late winter walk home.
the sun setting low and soft
behind a cloud bank.

i can hear pigeon conversations


looking over the side of the bridge
i see that
the ducks
have written stories
with their feet -
messages
to be carried downriver
to their far away friends
as the ice breaks up


i thought about their stories
while
i was here

by
the near-still water


stories of
the quiet waiting.

the final tremors
of the sinking sun
reflected in their eyes.

the thin slivers
of evening air
sliding
between their feathers.

the deepening green
of the river
as the day's shadows
gather into night's
single dark film.

i thought of
their morning becoming.

the first fingers
of tangerine haze
gliding
across the skin of the day

their bodies married
as much to the river
as to
the dark reflections
falling from the shore

and in that watching
i felt
the flow of their knowing
of this world.

29 comments:

Penny said...

What a lovely piece of prose. I love your reflective pieces. Some how they help when things get a little rough.

Jenny Stevning said...

Wow...wow...wow!!!!! What else can I say but WOW!

NanU said...

hi steven, lovely poem. that photo of the trees reflecting on the water is excellent.

Acornmoon said...

beautiful...

Elisabeth said...

'Stories of quiet waiting,': when for you, Steven, will winter end.

Here today and yesterday, only for a short time in the morning I turned on the heater.

It seems summer has left us finally and we are in between the warm and the cold.

Nothing like your cold, but cold by our standards.

Thanks for this beauty in image and words.

The Fuller Family said...

"the final tremors/of the sinking sun/reflected in their eyes." The flash of an image these words brought to me was an actual physical thing. You have a powerful gift.

Tess Kincaid said...

Beautiful images and words, Steven. I love the stories of nature. When is your book coming out?

Your opening pic reminds me of that PBS ad where the composer is inspired by birds on the wires, spaced like musical notes.

steven said...

penny - thankyou and i am glad that whatever i do here is of some value! have a peaceful day. steven

steven said...

jenny thanks for the wows. steven

steven said...

nanu thankyou. the river is breaking up and ice is starting to really move out now. the reflections are coming back and i can't help being drawn to them. have a lovely day. steven

steven said...

hello acornmoon, thankyou. no snow on the screen now either!!! steven

steven said...

hello elisabeth - it is a long season - not so much chronologically as experientially. the cold and the snow become challenging in february and by march people are on the verge of madness or beyond!!! south of me - perhaps fifty kilometres or so, there is no snow. have a peaceful day. steven

steven said...

oldpoetsoul, thankyou very much. i saw that entire image in my eyes and it was what drew me into their experiencing. i wrote the rest around it. steven

steven said...

hello willow, book?! perhaps when i'm retired and looking for attention of a different sort!!! have a lovely day at the manor. steven

Dan Gurney said...

And to think that so many of us work so hard to buy, maintain, and insure our cars... just so we can miss the mystical, poetic magic of a long walk home in late winter!

The ducks really seem to be taking it in, don't they? Their quiet waiting for spring.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

your words always resonate deep within ... beautiful steven!

ellen abbott said...

If the first picture was played as a musical score I wonder what it would sound like?

Reya Mellicker said...

I wish I understood bird language. I know they are passing information back and forth but I can't for the life of me get what they're saying.

Love the pigeons lined up on the wire. It always looks like regulars sitting at a bar, to me at least, when they're up there.

I was thinking about you this morning as I transferred music onto my new computer. Robert Fripp is so amazing, and Richard Skelton (who I learned about from you.) Wow. Thanks.

Linda Sue said...

Sweet Jaysus, Steven! I am totally catatonic over this post, slammed up against my uncomfortable $6.00 chair,stunned by the beauty! I may not move for a very long time! God, this is beautiful!!!!

Friko said...

steven, that is very beautiful. I read your words twice and I will read them again now. To get that much poetry out of a simple walk is enviable.

steven said...

dan my walks home are restorative - i literally talk my way through the day and then into the evening. i resolve the unresolved issues, sorrows, joys, of the day and then prepare and plan tfor the evening. but then alongside all of that unpacking and preparing is the wonder of being aware of the world around me. that's how i see and hear what's to be seen and heard. what a gift! steven

steven said...

bonnie thankyou. steven

steven said...

ellen - isn't that funny! it really would be fascinating if there was something beautiful in their configuration. steven

steven said...

hey reya - robert fripp as a person and then the music that passes through him. well i've learned much of what i value from both. then i've applied it into my won life and refined it to make sense to me. richard skelton - well i love the rawness. somewhere between fripp's polished access to the angels and skelton's access to the earth energies is where i sit or stand or walk or bike!!! happy dc day reya. steven

steven said...

linda sue - if it's a six dollar chair you need a good cushion. pillows are sweet! this day was a beautiful day. the ducks. the ice. the talk above and below. it was a quick succession of little gifts. pearls on a necklace. steven

steven said...

friko - you and i are both very blessed in that way. there's little moments and they loom large and rich. thankyou for this thoughtful comment. steven

C.M. Jackson said...

"stories of the quiet waiting" is what I saw in your photos--beautiful piece of writing as well!

steven said...

hello c.m. jackson. thankyou. patience and quiet waiting are such a part of the season's passing. no amount of complaining will change them. like so much of life, they change and you flow along with them. it's a learning i have with me now - but i didn't always have it!!! have a lovely evening. steven

Jinksy said...

You have the power to make the words and pictures live in my mind, every time I visit here - I don't read them, so much as live them with you...