♦ Poetic Sketches M to R ♦

Retha, the river and the rock

[ASR] A meditative moment brought on by a discussion at Sparrow Hawk.

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Retha, the river and the rock

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On the cusp of her ordination,
I met Retha and realized
we each have a reason
worthy of life and a rôle
in this earthly realm.

On the shore of a scenic
branch of the Arkansas,
I watched fish frolic
among the floating leaves
and fallen fruit from trees upriver.

On an ancient seabed,
hardened, exposed as rock,
hewn by descendents
of that primieval rain
that mold and nurture still,

I sat.

On the day before I lived again,
I listened to Retha, the river and the rock.
Ancients spoke in present tense,
begged me go my way in wonder,
to do that day what only I could do.

On the shores of eternity,
returned to soil, hardened rock,
part of a landscape
hewn by liquid, sculpted,
millenia from now,

I will remember:

among the frolic of the ripples,
in the gentle cloak of purple leaves,
floating down the golden waters,

Retha, the river and the rock.


Kåre Enga

catalogue number: [160.614]
19 oktober 2003.

Note: for Retha Bañez.