Lady River
Mighty river, hear her rumble
Boil her waters 'neath the falls
Loath to tarry as she thunders
O'er the path between her walls
Born from trickles in the highlands
Barely tickling icecapped earth
Soon she rants and raves with violence
As new waters give her girth
First as creeks and streams they name her
And with dams they try to tame
But in crooked lines she wanders
Ever growing, building fame
Trees and bushes crowd her shorelines
For it’s there they quench their thirst
Shame on those not quite well anchored
She uproots in angry burst
Through deep gorges hark her burping
Always nibbling from the stones
Ever feeding from the bottom
Leaving nothing but bare bones
Slow she widens through the valley
Marries streams from other lands
Hunger sated from her banksides
Soil she renders into sands
Though her fill is often muddied
And debris leaves facial scars
Still her goal is ever onward
Nothing daunts her, nothing bars
Who dares challenge such a power
Testing her determined haste
Tastes her awesome rising currents
Born to crumble, willed to waste
Much like life, she's always seeking
Destiny's last gentle bend
Grave is found in ocean's vastness
Soul escapes as movements end
İNoel Foster - 1998
Silhouette
.
A silhouette of evening mist
Her soft and shadowy form
Blended into rays from Heaven
Backdropped by the building storm
.
A vision momentarily
Light pink blossoms in her hair
In flowing peignoir of white lace
Fading in the lightning’s glare
.
Windblown tresses auburn tinted
Dainty as the woodland fawn
Nimbly she steps forth and waving
In the din of thunder gone
.
Still I’ve seen her lovely features
Back to high school days I roam
To the accident remembered
When she could not make it home
.
Now I understand completely
Why my mind has cast this spell
Years of time are but a moment
This was Margie’s fond farewell
.
İNoel Foster - 1997
My Other Arm
.
You ask what of my other arm
Me thinks with right I will not fail
But of the left it came to harm
Without the sounding of alarm
So if you must, I’ll tell my tale
.
To find the bird of paradise
One day to swamp my trail did lead
So hot was it without the ice
I took dry shade and napped there twice
When I awoke no trail agreed
.
Just mud and slime without a floor
Through which I mucked day after day
Of food I say I missed the more
For I had naught within my store
And of the sky I cannot say
.
In skin and bones much unlike me
With thoughts of future somewhat bleak
Right there a gator chanced to be
The greatest one I ever did see
‘Twas food I saw within my seek
.
A lifetime chance I must not fail
Here ends the story don’t you see
My arm you ask to no avail
Truth is I bit him on the tail
And now he rests more fed than me
.
İNoel Foster - 1998
