Michaela and Zachary Rogers on a Pennsylvania fishing trip with their mother, Mary.

 

Rueful Memories:

(A City Boy Remembers Montana)

Glacier National Park

Children fishing a wooded stream

Bring back memories, like a dream

Of the peace that I once knew

Before the sadness came and grew.

Trying to describe a tranquil mood,

Folks often write of 'silent woods',

Of stately trees, tall and lush

Cloaked in a calm, cathedral hush.

But it wasn't 'silence' that I heard

Not me - I listened to the birds,

To musical waters rushing by

And gentle breezes like a sigh.

I heard the crickets' strident calls,

Reveled in peace, held in thrall,

Cares soothed by those idyllic woods,

I should have lingered, while I could

Beside that melodic forest brook.

I should have done what it took

To dawdle longer near its banks,

Explore along its tree-lined flanks.

Instead, I left...and lived a war...

I lost my peace forevermore.

All the brooks that dance to sea

Will never bring it back to me.

©Thurman P. Woodfork

Awarded 5/12/2005