Down by the ancient river
Its silver boards shine with the age
of time
clear water trips over river stones
chattering merrily as it goes
beneath the covered bridge.
Is this new water or old
flowing over these stones?
Does it remember Time
and all that has happened here,
before there was a bridge,
before there was a road,
before there was a forest?
Does this water remember the glacier
it came from,
or when this bridge was built?
How many horses and buggies passed
over
before cars came this way
sputtering exhaust into blue sky
proclaiming a new way and a new day?
Are the bridge and river friends
or enemies in an endless battle?
Does the river want to be free?
Does the bridge want to hang on just
a little longer?
This bridge is a tie to the past
and a road to the future.
This river is the measure of Time
And the depository of memories,
Life Blood to the world.
~Kathie Adams Brown (April 29, 2015)
