Rush Hour Creek and the Cost of Autumn
The creek traps leaves
into neatly
piled stacks
like the papers on my desk
I’m too busy to read
Filed between the rocks
on the rush downstream
they give a seasonal accounting
of Autumn’s mounting cost
~ Pond House Retreat, November ’04
Post Note: I don’t have a photo of the creek. The above photo is of a photo that currently sits on my kitchen table. It’s of the inscription on my dad’s gravestone. He left this world last November.
November 1st, 2006 1:49 am
Strong hugs to you. Beautiful, poignant poem. (I didn’t realize until now that both our fathers died in November, mine in 2002.)
November 1st, 2006 4:39 am
I love that Old Song…That is so sweet that THAT is on your Dad’s gravestone…And the Autumn leaves are so pretty, Collen….
November 1st, 2006 8:14 am
i love the poem, colleen. it’s as good, if not better, than most new poetry i read. this will be the difference between your site and mine- i have to post other people’s poetry. what a gift to write your own!
November 1st, 2006 8:57 am
i think your dad’s inscription is so awesome. it reminds you that he’ll never leave you – not really.
November 1st, 2006 12:21 pm
Simply loved the poem. (first time visitor and enjoyed more of the blog as well.)
Tom (an imperfect stranger)
November 1st, 2006 1:54 pm
That essay you wrote about your father just made me cry.
Apple blossoms are so sweet and beautiful.
November 1st, 2006 2:28 pm
It sounds like the population he created is a very talented group of folks, and I am sure he is very proud of all of you.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and images with us.
November 1st, 2006 4:33 pm
Your eulogy was perfect and tied every feeling together. I love apple blossums and so love the inscription.
Your dad sure did create an amazing population!
November 1st, 2006 5:08 pm
I can just see the creek…a lovely poem.
November 1st, 2006 5:22 pm
Very nice photo and I love the inscription. (what’s it say below it though? I can’t make it out)
November 1st, 2006 6:11 pm
It’s two rings together and it says 60 years which is how long my parents were married. He died, as my sister Kathy says, “just a tear away” from their 60th which would have been in January. Funny thing about the photo. My brother sent several of them and they came weeks late in a PO envelope with a note apologizing for any damage. The front of the gravestone has a rainbow and in all the pictures he sent, the rainbow was the color of a real rainbow! I think there may have been some water damage. Was someone crying?
November 1st, 2006 6:12 pm
I think that is a beautiful inscription Colleen.
Remember all of us will be with you this November so lean on us if you need to!
November 2nd, 2006 5:47 pm
Thanks for telling me about the other inscription. That was really nice and how eerie about that rainbow!
November 4th, 2006 5:43 pm
A world too busy to get to what it drops in the creek?!?! Thank God for the creek!
November 4th, 2006 6:15 pm
Perhaps I’ll be less “cryptic” and say that I love how this poem describes Autumnal decay. And thank God for creeks!