Time telescopes at the bend in the river
thirty years ago
if a day
yesterday
forever:
an up-the-river ramble and a sausage sizzle
cooking marshmallows by the fire
the coppiced trees aren’t taller
but I swear the island of stones has grown
alluvial deposits from the last Ice Age if you think of it
12,000 years to tumble down to here.
We say we grow old but we just spin and swirl in time’s current
buoyed along and eddying
to be deposited on sleeping shores
while the river ripples whispering
nevermore and yet
forevermore:
a something and a nothing.
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Sharing with earthweal
I went for a walk yesterday by the river close to where I grew up, and I realised I probably hadn’t walked that particular path in 30 years. It’s such a strange feeling when time telescopes like that: almost like you’ve found a wormhole in the fabric of space-time. Because for that one moment, nothing has changed in all those years, and yet (almost) everything has.
Sharing with earthweal’s Open Link Weekend #103.
good ❤️❤️
Thank you!
👍👍
The ending lines along with your paragraph explaining your walk by the river brought back my own memories of moments in that “wormhole” as you so aptly described it! Love this! 💓
Thanks Tricia! We must all go through these moments…
Yes, I think it’s a surreal, but normal occurrence!
A beautiful photo and a wonderful reflective poem. I love this post, Ingrid! <3 Sizzling sausages might be worth repeating in this lovely spot.
Thank you Cheryl! That’s a great idea, perhaps I’ll take the kids one day… ❤️
while the river ripples whispering
nevermore and yet
forevermore:
a something and a nothing.
Absolutely beautiful!!!
Thank you so much!
My pleasure truly.
I agree with Pragalbha, I loved your finale too .. absolutely superb ..
Glad you enjoyed this, Ivor!
My pleasure Ingrid
I love the imagery that puts us there by the fire, and the nevermore and forevermore ripples. Delightful, Ingrid.
Thank you, K.!
You’re welcome. 😃
Time is a precious thing and most people don’t know it until their last years. Lovely reflective piece. ❤️
It’s a gift, and I love its fluidity. Thanks Joni! 🥰
You are so welcome Ingrid. My pleasure 🥰
This is well written, both stylistically and thematically, charming Ingrid. Nostalgically wonderful. Of course reminiscing and comparing times past to times present is an ingenious and knowledgeable move. 🌺💖
Thank you, Lamittan, I am glad you enjoyed this! 😊
You’re most welcome 🤗
Nostalgia! I loved this poem,yeah,it would feel strange,I guess, when you revisit a place you hadn’t visited in 30 years! 🙂 I loved the opening line “Time telescopes at the bend in the river”.
It was quite an eerie feeling! Thank you 😊
We just spin and swirl in time’s current; what a wonderful line.🙂
🙂
Beautiful and thoughtful poem, Ingrid. You hooked me with the title and photo, and the opening line is perfect. Well, you know how I’m fascinated by rivers and time, so . . . 😀 It must have been both wonderful and strange to walk that path again.
It certainly was! Thanks Merril 😊
You’re welcome!
Ah yes, that moment when a place carries you back. Beautifully written.
Thank you Marion 😊
I have enjoyed this poem very much, Ingrid! “we just spin and swirl in time’s current
buoyed along and eddying
to be deposited on sleeping shores “
Thank you, Virginia: glad you liked it! ❤️
Good imagery. Splendid!
The layers of time..they do compress sometimes. Where and when are we? Everywhere and always. (K)
oh the picture you paint in words move me as I wake and you head to bed dear Ingrid! 💖🌈🌈
Not quite my bedtime but I wish it was 😅 glad you liked it Cindy ❤️
I’ve gotta get my hours straight.. You’re so welcome! 💖💖
Nearly time now… 😴💕 blog rehab for me tomorrow… I think 😅
Sleep well and and a good idea for you GF.. see you there. ha!💖
I bust out already 😳😅🤣❤️
hahahahahahhaha..
Why doesn’t that surprise me?
🤣💖🤗🥰👏🤷♀️
🤔🥰🤣
💖🥰🤗
So many beautiful lines, Ingrid!❤️ Reminds me of a time when I visited the city I grew up in after almost twenty years. So much had changed yet everything seemed the same. Love this. ❤️
Thank you, Punam: I’m so glad this resonated with you 🥰
It sure did! You are welcome. 🥰
I so relate to this. I feel the same way when I go back to my hometown, and stand outside the houses I lived in there………..I especially love “We say we grow old but we just spin and swirl in time’s current.”
Thank you Sherry!
Beautiful x
Thank you 🙏
There’s something primal in the river’s flow at once, natal and carrying the future. Lovely sense of time’s round here.
Thank you Brendan.
Such a beautiful poem, Ingrid. I loved all the lines, and these resonated most, “while the river ripples whispering
nevermore and yet
forevermore:
a something and a nothing.” The paradox of life so beautifully described. ☺️
Thank you Jeff 😊
You’re most welcome, Ingrid. Always. ☺️
I can relate to this. Returning after 3 years is a strange feeling…You realise that the person you were before at that time has changed.
Yes, definitely!
Those are special moments when time overlaps and brings you backwards and forwards as if a collage of you and the ecosystem. You capture it well. I remember being fascinated by how deltas build up by stones and earth etc coming downstream. Maybe we accumulate in life just the same way.
I think we probably do: all the little things we take with us seem to add up over the years! Thanks Susan 😊
The water never changes, only the surroundings change. My house is by the river. I noticed this change during Corona’s time. When we didn’t come down. Lovely poem ☺️
Thank you Jane 😊
Welcome dear Ingrid 😊