Tuesday, May 09, 2006

The Coast Road

This road,
with its rising
verge of green,

and the dark
earth below,
strung with
seams of quartz
and granite,

and the patient
stand of maples
that abide atop the
ridge despite the
wind coming off the
ocean in winter,

and the silence of
this ancient steam
train, stopped and
entombed with a
twisting of grass,

with the smell of
creosoted wood
slowly turning to
powder on a damp
day in early spring,

with the coy sound
of a shy robin, the
quick twitch of its
head, the sparkle
of its dark eye, its
wingbeat as it lights
in the rough grass of
the field and pecks
down an insect,

and the clouds will
clot up and join
ranks as the day
goes on, blunting
the sunlight to a
silvery gray,

with occasional
rain spitting down
to hang in my hair
and darken my
shoulders,

but I am glad of it
and glad there are
no cars trundling
noisly by on this
dark and stony road,
but only the scenery,
and the audible hush
of distant trees, and
the phantom, sublimated
rush and retreat of the
ocean.

17 comments:

MB said...

the audible hush
of distant trees


Ah, you took me there. Even down to the insect and the brightness of the bird's eyes. This is really nicely paced. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

How absolutely delightful. This poem triggers so many memories that it's difficult to focus on "just one." Thanks.

Mushster said...

Is it my imagination or has the change in seasons brought about a change in you too?

Lovely :)

Patrick M. Tracy said...

MB,

I wrote this one just after reading one of yours, and was moved to take this tack. So...thanks for the inspiration. BTW, liked the pics of the foxes. Only wish they'd been a bit bigger!

Doc,

Glad it gave you the slide show!

Mush,

I don't know, really. I suppose I've been on a naturalistic kick lately. Probably has something to do with getting outside more. Or...I've just gone soft. We'll see. May have to write one of my "spike through the head" poems just to keep you guessing.

Thanks, everyone, for coming by.

Mushster said...

As long as it's not a spike through the heart - had enough of that lately lol

MB said...

No wonder I liked it, Firehawk!
;-)
Yeah, I wish they'd been a bit bigger, too. They seemed bigger in real life. Need a better camera!

Bill said...

Man, I love places like this. Full of little "I wonder..." oddities... I remember an old trappers cabin in the state preserve near Forestport, NY that always had me wondering about those who once made it home.. and what had become of them. It too had a distinct aroma, and the woods were filled with little creatures that seemed not to notice.

Anonymous said...

Me too! That's the kind of slide show that I never tire of. By the way, Firehawk. I think that you have some great readers. I love to read their comments. I'm glad to see that Bill's back today. I had begun to think that we had lost him.

Patrick M. Tracy said...

Mush,

I'll leave your heart well alone. You've had enough people taking their shots at that spot already, from what you've said.

MB,

I could have grabbed the photos and enhanced them, had I been more motivated. No real sense to complain, when you're too lazy to help yourself!

Still, thanks for posting the pics. I'm sure it's no easy thing to get a photo of foxes in the wild. I've rarely run across one that would stand still!

Bill,

The world's filled with "great places", it's just hard to tear yourself out of your life, your thoughts, and your own well-worn tracks long enough to find them. As much as I love the computer, I find that I sometimes live in front of it too much, doing all my exploration in cyberspace, rather than in the real world. It's nice to experience the Actual, rather than the Virtual, sometimes.

Glad to see you back, of course. I was wondering if I'd done something to tick you off!

Doc,

Thanks for giving my readers their props!

MB said...

Firehawk, I am a little confused by your response. I thought you meant you wished for a closer view. That was limited by my camera and my personal distance.

Patrick M. Tracy said...

MB,

Sorry for the confusion. What I was saying is that, if I'd been motivated, I could have grabbed your pictures and loaded them into a program that would have allowed me to zoom in for a better look.

I wasn't saying that you should have done anything different, though I can see how it would have looked that way now.

Ah, the perilous nature of written communication! Bereft of tone and body language, the wrong message can sometimes come through.

In any case, just ignore me.

MB said...

Firehawk, thanks for clarifying! You are right, written communication can be misunderstood. That's why I thought I'd ask you what you meant. Believe me, I enjoy you too much to ignore you. ;-)

Bill said...

Firehawk - No.. nothing you did.. actually I've been spending a lot less time blogging, and visiting blogs lately... I've been working a lot and between that, getting the new sites up and running and trying to get some household repairs done so I can get back to the truck project... Sadly the time that got cut into was my 'puter time!

Bill said...

Oh.. and Doc... the only way I'd stop coming in here... is if it wasn't here! (it's nice to know I was missed though!)

Patrick M. Tracy said...

MB,

Thanks for bearing with me, eh?

Bill,

Life intrudes, and that's fine, of course. There's a lot of ground to cover away from the computer screen.

Glad to see you, whenever you get a chance to come around.

...and glad to see all of you, whether you leave comments or not. Thanks for coming by!

MB said...

Firehawk, no problem. And you with me, eh?!

Blue Athena said...

So serene and so quiet. Very nice! :)

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