Sunday, October 28, 2012

Revisiting Past Work

I've promised everyone I would try to get back to writing. I never said how I would do it! In my usual way, I'm going to be all over the place. But I'll start here by revisiting a poem I wrote a while back after taking a walk through the Red-tail Nature Preserve and Cardinal Greenway in Muncie. I've cleaned it, tightened it up and made the stanzas the same length, though rhythm and meter...well, I never said I was trained in this!

I rewrote this in song form for a project to hopefully share with some of my musician friends. Marty is also a waterways restoration expert and lives a green life on a farm in central Wisconsin. I hope he can appreciate this:

RAILS TO TRAILS (for Marty)

The morning's respite
From chore and errand
The rolling field that
Once was tilled
Now Lies quiet 
In tune with its Past

CHORUS
Footfalls steady, hard and fast
The breath from my chest and
The songs in my head...

A walk through woods
Over bog and bridge  
The level trail that
Once was rails
Now mostly silent
In tune with its Now

CHORUS

BRIDGE
A mile north
My only companions
Creatures heard but unseen
The streams of former snow...

A mile south
My companions remain
Creatures heard but unseen and
The streams of former snow

CHORUS

Return to
The rolling field that
Once was tilled
Now lies quiet 
Building our better
Future