The silence, the almost endless joyful silence,
That's what I remember most looking back,
Silence and belonging, companionship,
Not in Nature so much as part of it,
Absolutely indispensible we were,
As if God Himself, the great ‘I AM, '
Would not exist, if we were not here,
Lines, hanging organic from pole ends,
Like branches of a weeping willow
Disappearing into the glassy water,
A living lollipop for nascent fish to gum,
Hoping to evolve into birds perhaps,
Wondering what it would be like
To swim in air and sleep on tree limbs.
All this in the forever present, stretching to infinity,
Here, now, fishing with older men!
Their faces blend together, rustic, tan,
Until God Himself is indistinguishable from
Cliff, Johnny, CH, or Uncle Jimmy
But Granddad Neighbors is the twinkle in God's eyes,
Clarence and his boys, bringing God down to earth
Ardean too, though I never fished with him,
Mother's five brothers, she was the one…
Ardean hooked me with his music,
I swallowed that bait whole, so deep,
It have would killed me to retrieve the hook.
Every ripple on the lake, every wave,
Whole notes in an endless adagio,
The movement Mahler longed to write,
Welcoming us back to home fires, fish to fry,
Breathing the smoky air of countless stars,
All of us fishermen forever!
ok, i like this much better than the first time i think i read it, weeks ago. didn't i comment; guess not, or it was too harsh and got dismissed? yes, i like this, though i may not follow all the meaning in the first stanza. well, there was silence AND music. i guess. why not? i too would like to swim in air and sleep on tree limbs, as long as i got enough fruit and bugs to eat! to MyPoemList. my favorite lines: Ardean hooked me with his music, I swallowed that bait whole, so deep, It have would killed me to retrieve the hook.' at BJ's request, this poem will be put into my A Showcase For PH Poets (March edition) . your 2nd one (if there is a 2nd one in March) should be roughly 24 lines or less. thanks for your poem. bri :)
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
my preference is 'fishing with younger women'! :)