The River and the Bridge

Down by the ancient river

Its silver boards shine with the age of time

clear water trips over river stones

chattering merrily as it goes

beneath the covered bridge.

Is this new water or old

flowing over these stones?

Does it remember Time

and all that has happened here,

before there was a bridge,

before there was a road,

before there was a forest?

Does this water remember the glacier it came from,

or when this bridge was built?

How many horses and buggies passed over

before cars came this way

sputtering exhaust into blue sky

proclaiming a new way and a new day?

Are the bridge and river friends

or enemies in an endless battle?

Does the river want to be free?

Does the bridge want to hang on just a little longer?

This bridge is a tie to the past

and a road to the future.

This river is the measure of Time

And the depository of memories,

Life Blood to the world.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 29, 2015)

NaPoWriMo 2015 /30 Poems in 30 Days

Prompt 28: Bridges