Silt settles in the summer creek
over hard-wedged wood
and the largish stubborn stones
laid bright and bare
when vernal torrents raged:
ripped raw the bed,
tore out old banks,
walkways
and little bridges–
wild waters
shattered,
scattered…
Recut pathways
and the landscape
in the violence
of season’s change.
The sun is warm now glimmering
over the water where leafy branches
gaze and tease the eye:
The pebbles colorful in many shades
and striped in lights and darks
rest nestled in the silt
that settles ’round but does not yet
obscure them from the sun.
The satin ripples whisper
as they dance together–sunlight,
pebbles and clear-running stream.
I sit now by the summer creek
relieved that season’s passed,
soaking in the sunlight at my back,
and understanding now,
Springtime
meant no harm.
July 2011, revised 2019
photo also by CL Redding, 2011
LOOSELY SPEAKING... 