1598: From a Bridge | David St. John
"From a Bridge"
David St. John
I saw my mother standing there below me
On the narrow bank just looking out over the river
Looking at something just beyond the taut middle rope
Of the braided swirling currents
Then she looked up quite suddenly to the far bank
Where the densely twined limbs of the cypress
Twisted violently toward the storm-struck sky
There are some things we know before we know
Also some things we wish we would not ever know
Even if as children we already knew & so
Standing above her on that bridge that shuddered
Each time the river ripped at its wooden pilings
I knew I could never even fate willing ever
Get to her in time
We are islands all of us,/but we are also boats
David St. John
I saw my mother standing there below me
On the narrow bank just looking out over the river
Looking at something just beyond the taut middle rope
Of the braided swirling currents
Then she looked up quite suddenly to the far bank
Where the densely twined limbs of the cypress
Twisted violently toward the storm-struck sky
There are some things we know before we know
Also some things we wish we would not ever know
Even if as children we already knew & so
Standing above her on that bridge that shuddered
Each time the river ripped at its wooden pilings
I knew I could never even fate willing ever
Get to her in time
We are islands all of us,/but we are also boats