By the river

[Art Deco]

Of blissful hours beside the brook
When autumn breeze the foliage shook
A seedpod falls to float downstream
bourne by the water keen and clean

Perhaps to reach a distant sea
via wooded banks and verdant lee
Yet soon to meet its journey’s end
grounded at the river’s bend

There to set its tender roots
At springtime force its own green shoots
And so its destiny, not sea
but to become a towering tree

To flourish where the river flows
and shed in turn its embryos
that spiral downwards to the flow
along the current fast and slow

To settle on the river’s bank
with others of its fledgling rank
Thus Nature’s cycle is assured
and river gazers never bored