The Bench Poem by George Van Den Driessche

I found it standing
There, tall amidst the trees
Years of erosion and the
Will of the river, placing
Me humbly at its feet.
It was my first day here
And I was on my first walk
When I saw it from the
Lower bank.
The long grass waved in the wind,
The birds sang wordless songs,
The river babbled with the stones
And my eyes feasted upon it
My heart stirred and took wing
Dreaming of one day standing
By it.
But alas, this first day,
This first walk,
Was not the day to join it.
I was on the lower bank
And it stood high on the upper
Tall amidst the trees
Guarded from me by river
And mountainous wall of mud!
No, this first day and walk
I could not join it.
But a writer’s heart is not
So easily defeated by
River and mountainous mud
My sleep and peace were taken
From me!
As it would forever haunt
My dreams.
The birds’ songs were now
A mockery
The grass a jeering crowd
With rotten fruit
And the lower bank,
The lower bank became my stock
And the upper bank a jailer!
Keeping me forever away from it!
But oppression only lasts so long,
Because weak hearts can grow strong!
The birds’ songs were now inspiration
And the waving grass reached for me
In loving adoration
I swam to the river’s center,
And let the current wash away my doubt
And listened to the babble of
water and stone,
until my heart was once more strong.
I swam for days to the upper bank,
Where I placed my hand against cool
Welcoming mud.
It is here I began to scale
The wall of mountainous mud
So focused I became
That the birds’ songs faded
And the grass no longer waved
Even the talkative stones grew
Silent to the river!
Until I triumphed!
And climbed over the top!
From Upper Bank life was stronger,
The birds’ songs louder
The grass waved more fiercely
And the babble of river and stone
An uproar.
All hailing me a King!
And behind me it stood,
The love of my heart,
The haunter of my dreams
The inspiration for my soul,
The throne I had sought for
The most beautiful place
In all the world,
A place for me to sit!
There it stood behind me,
The Bench!