Poets in the Garden
  • Poets in the Garden
  • About
  • Contact
  • Fly with the Ospreys
  • Pensive Oasis Press
    • New Page

The River's Flow

1/15/2020

1 Comment

 
The river knows no season, no emotion, just the endless cycle of birth and death. Listen for the whisper of life born anew and feel peace from the river flow. 
PictureEel River Round Valley, CA

Picture
Niagara Escarpment, Ontario Canada
Picture
Mountain stream in italy
 
            Life’s Choices
 
          Will you travel a
          Slowly meandering stream,
          A fragile leaf
          Floating on quiet water?
 
          Or will you ride
          Churning rapids, paddle
          Furiously
          In your protective raft?
 
          Would you rather
          Fight the current, swim
          Upstream, leap cataracts,
          Be a spawning salmon?
 
          It is your choice,
          But just remember this:
          All journeys will end in
          In the all-embracing sea.


          Seasons of the river
 
          Shaded violets bloom
          Wheat fields sprout sturdy green stalks
          On the river’s banks.
 
          Sun blazes, hot air 
          Golden grain sways with the wind
          O’er the river’s banks.
 
          Red, yellow, brown leaves
          Float on the river’s current
          Tumble with the flow.
 
          Land is icy white,
          Fish sleep in the cold river,
          Whose water still flows.

​
 
 River’s Journey
 
High on a mountain top
Water trickles from glacier.
Descending, gathers speed,
Joins another trickle
And another.
Now a mountain stream,
They continue downward,
Come to a valley.
Here they slow, rest,
But continue to flow,
Find an outlet
And rush down the slope.
Reach the big valley,
Join many streams
In the big river.
Blending, no longer distinct,
The slope less steep,
The waters
Flow more slowly,
But forever downstream
In perpetual flow,
Almost to a still
As they arrive at the
River mouth,
Mix with the ocean’s
Saltwater tide,
Then wash into
The great ocean
Where all is one. 

​            
Flighty Reality

All that is, is change.
Being is becoming,
A never-ending flux,
A flighty reality.

We would suspend this flight
At moments dear to us,
But sadly, good and bad
Are both part of the stream.

There's nothing left to do
But to accept what is,
To savor the painful flow
And marvel at the wonder.


Enigmatic Reality

All's ever changing
Yet ever the same,
An enigma it is.
Change is changeless
And changelessness is change!

The past's in the present,
The present's in the future,
All is but one.
Time in timelessness
And timelessness in time!

Everything is
All that it ever was
And all that it will be.
Oneness in multiplicity
And multiplicity in oneness!


Life's Steady Flow

Newborn, child,
Youngster, adult,
Husband, wife,
They come in sequence
And have their time.

Work, play,
Grief, joy,
Love, hate,
They fall in line
And have their day.

Spring, summer,
Autumn, winter,
Come and go, And all things
Join the flow!

Change is ceaseless,
All is constant,
Nothing is gained,
Nothing lost, 
A wondrous whole!

​-JM

​Epigrams

At any one point in its course, the river is
​ everything it ever was and will ever be.

Change is life's sole constant.

What is, is change in changelessness.

Change is inevitable and time is incessant.

​There is no time but there is change.


​
Picture
Vatilava or Moldau River in Prague
Picture
JM by the Arno River in Florence
​          Cultural Flow

          Cultures come and cultures go
          In a constant ebb and flow,
          They’re born with a flourish,
          Arts and science nourish,
          Until human greed
          Sprouts conflict and need,
          And the waters stagnate.
          But then, lying in wait,
          Born, as yet unknown,
          Its seeds still unsown.
          A new culture will emerge,
          Rush forth with a hopeful surge.
          And it too, will grow, then die
          Leaving behind but a sigh. 

​    
 
 
The River

​Green sprouted through deep rich earth,
Mothers everywhere gave birth.
Peace was again at hand
And the river ran.
 
Children played wild and carefree
‘Neath the leafed-out apple tree
Heedless of the treaty ban.
Still the river ran.
 
Drying leaves began to fall,
Geese flew south with mournful call.
Cold discord crept through the land.
Yet the river ran.
 
Came wan winter ice and snow,
Friend and brother were now foe.
Clashing armies took their stand.
But the river ran.
 
Then the darkest longest night,
Pale moon but a ghostly white,
Heedful few a cry heard and
Still the river ran.
 
Hope sprang forth from fountainhead
Fresh air breathed life from the dead.
Rose bloomed in the snowy land,
And still the river ran.

​-MW

Variations on a Theme

In times long past,
In an agrarian age
Of simple tillers of the soil,
There also dwelled
In castles and in mansions
A ruling aristocracy.

The tillers toiled
In submissive awe,
Indentured and with little hope.
The privileged few,
Kings, lords and entourage,
Ruled, revelled and waged wars.

All was so,
A divine arrangement,
The choice few, the lowly many.
Things then changed,
The hoi polloi erupted,
The hoity-toity paled and tumbled.

The industrial age
That flowered and flourished for years
Saw tillers of the soil become toilers in the factory.
A change in culture
Brought also a change in reign,
Industrial tycoons took scepters in hand.

Change is insistent,
A financial world's now emerged,
Brawn's been replaced by skilled indenture.
Rule too has changed,
A new few are now in charge,
Corporate capitalists now firmly enthroned.

​-JM


Epigrams

At any point in its course, the river is everything it ever was and will ever be.

What is, is change in changelessness.

Change is inevitable and time is incessant.

There is no time but there is change.

​Change is life's sole constant.

PicturePíccola waiting for her breakfast.

I'm happy if nothing changes. I like my routine: sleep in a warm bed, get a belly rub, eat, sit on the sofa with my humans to chew my latest stuffy, sleep, bark a bit at perceived dangers (airplanes in the sky), poop, get a treat, repeat. Structured time that repeats timelessly. I am content.
1 Comment
kodi.software link
7/16/2024 12:58:22 am

I wanted to express my gratitude for your insightful and engaging article. Your writing is clear and easy to follow, and I appreciated the way you presented your ideas in a thoughtful and organized manner. Your analysis was both thought-provoking and well-researched, and I enjoyed the real-life examples you used to illustrate your points. Your article has provided me with a fresh perspective on the subject matter and has inspired me to think more deeply about this topic.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2024
    February 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos from Eric Kilby, tracie7779, USFWS Mountain Prairie, Denis Bourez, jinxmcc, Japanese beauty, voyager2014, Kirt Edblom, nevil zaveri (thank you for 15+M views:), kennethkonica, FaceMePLS, Marianne Serra, irio.jyske, 270862, NASA Hubble, steviep187, Keith Laverack, corsi photo, Howard J Duncan, Luna sin estrellas, Lynda W1, bvi4092, John Brighenti, Kecko, Cambridge Cat, Alexxx1979, ashwin kumar, vastateparksstaff, Marian Elizabeth May, sussexbirder, ell brown, David Meurin, Rod Raglin, Swallowtail Garden Seeds, A_Peach, timo_w2s, acryptozoo, NASA Hubble, El Coleccionista de Instantes, gizmo-the-bandit, THE Holy Hand Grenade!, RRS13, StoresundPhoto, mikecogh, Tony Webster, ajari, dsgetch, A_Peach, joiseyshowaa, focusonmore.com, SchuminWeb, Sam-H-A, Yves Sorge, Me in ME, Denkrahm, US Mission Geneva, Cambridge Cat, Marianne Serra, Theo Crazzolara, François Reiniche, Mark A. Nakasone, devasTated_cZar, Mikey G Ottawa, Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel, lundyd, 7beachbum, Tim J Keegan, OliBac, alh1, blachswan, oberbayer, alh1, hepp, Dmitry Karyshev, L_K_M, ibm4381