Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Dream Falls” by: rob kistner © 11/14/23
My back is bent deep
from life’s heavy load
my mind stumbles troubled
by all these forks in my road
my brow is fevered
I can’t find my mellow
I miss the aspen meadows
of crisp golden yellows
should you encounter me
wandering lost as a fawn
my countenance brittle
withered and drawn
know that my soul seeks
the song of the waters
my aching heart needs
be soothed in their arms
so deliver me to snow-melt
to high-mountain waters
sweep me swiftly away
in their crystal blue streams
tumble me joyishly laughing
in their rolling white rapids
then over a waterfall
grand as my dreams
splash me into the current
flow me past western red cedar
my body is ready
my spirit is eager
I will miss you my loves
but no tearful goodbyes
it’s your love I’ll remember
as I’m closing my eyes
so when I’ve grow weary
the final wish that I make
let my ashes ever join
with a deep mountain lake
Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Deep Peace”
by: rob kistner © 11/14/23
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rob kistner © 2023
Poetry at: d’verse
Poetry at: WGO
Poetry at: Poets & Storytellers
Well done Rob. Such a beautiful setting and yes a deep mountain lake would be perfect!
Thank you Dwight… 🙂
Love your take! “know that my soul seeks
the song of the waters” Mine, too.????
Thank you my friend. This was not a morose take. We all will go, this is me expressing my greatest wish that my final journey be one of exhilaration and joy, back united with nature — which my failing health has robbed from me these recent years… and which I miss profoundly… 🙂
A powerful poem about getting old, Rob, and not an avocado to be seen! I love how you included the prompt words. The lines that stand out for me:
‘my brow is fevered
I can’t find my mellow
I miss the aspen meadows
of crisp golden yellows’.
I am a terrible cook Kim, so I went with something I know — nature… 🙂 … I did manage to include red, yellow, white and fork, so I got a few of your words in my friend… 😉
This is a perfect end to a perfect life… I love the visuals.
Thank you Björn. I genuinely appreciate your kind words… 🙂
Such a beautiful poem. Perfect.
Thank you Di… 🙂
hope you get the journey you seek rob.
Thank you Rog… 🙂
This is so lovely, Rob. I can feel the call of the aspen meadows and the song of the waters…….lovely imagery, wonderful rhyming. I really enjoyed this. It sings of the Pacific Northwest.
Thank you Sherry — it is my heart song… 🙂
This poem is a beautiful yearning for a final reunion with a beloved landscape… emotional and so very visual.
Thank you Rajani, very much… 🙂
Your poem read like a song! A lovely ode to the aspen meadows and deep mountain lakes.
Love them both Yvonne… 🙂
I like all the joyful moments that only nature can give us. Picturesque words.
Thank you Sumana… 🙂
Truly at one with nature and its peacefulness…a poetic journey explained in detail…
Eileen… 🙂
This is a beautiful poem. One for you to cherish and one for others to continue to cherish some day (in the far future) when you are gone.
Thank you Mary… 🙂
This seems a perfect poem (if there is one), you speak of the final journey, and yet, your poem is full of life. Home in the mountains. I have read people are happiest when they live in the mountains or by the sea, and I think each would suit you. Thanks for your poem. Somethings I Think About – annell
Thank you Annell. Thats is why I loved living for a quarter century in Oregon. You got mountains; old growth ancient forests; the Pacific Ocean; 363 miles of one of the most beautiful rugged coastlines in the world; 30,000 square miles of the amazing Oregon High Desert; the stunning multicolored painted desert, breathtaking canyons and gorges, including the 85-mile-long Columbia Gorge, the 150 mile by 60 mile Willamette Valley, which is some of the most most fertile land in the world, white water rivers, pristine lakes everywhere including mind-blowing Crater Lake, and so so many incredible waterfalls — it is paradise on earth.
Rob, it was special watching as you read this poem yesterday …. thank you for sharing.
My pleasure Helen… 🙂
Let the good times roll. Goodbye.
I would have liked to listened to you read.
But I have had troubles and could never
get signed on for just listening.
..
Sorry your having complications joining us. Maybe next time my friend… 🙂
Yes, a mountain lake sounds lovely… I can see that the prompt didn’t exactly pull light and happy memories .. however no one and certainly not I would deign to criticize such an well-penned beautifully expressed bouquet of image and emotion.
addendum on second reading…
I am a dumkopff .. this poem is a glorious ode to life and an exquisite accepting embrace of a return to the nature you so achingly love. Yes, as others have said we are all on a journey with the same destination and yet, and yet… all the journeys are so vastly different .. and you blessed sir … have mapped out a future path that shimmers with love and beauty… all waiting for you to return. I love this poem and your vision is inspiring and comforting, soothing and exciting for the possibilities that await. A brilliant write!
Thank you for giving it a 2nd read Pearl. I am so pleased you found your way to the joy with which I wrote this piece. This was an ecstatic release of my life energy into the natural world… 🙂
Thank you Pearl… 🙂
“my soul seeks
the song of the waters
my aching heart needs
be soothed in their arms”
How the tone changes here, from longing to joy. Water flows and all feels refreshed. That last stanza is a masterpiece. I paused here for the music, too. I think we are both more aware that we are only here for a while, and must must relax into the journey.
Just let it flow Susan… 😉
No one could be in any doubt that this is your favourite place in the world It is a love poem to a landscape
Much prefer wilderness to human constructs. Nature brings me to tears sometimes. Makes me feel the awesomeness of the world, of the universe — the true magic of the miracle of existence. It is how I feel my spirituality, because personally, I do not buy the religious thing. Religion diminishes the true power of the wondrous. We humans will never understand it, so why pretend we do. Just stand in the mystery, and be amazed.
tumble me joyishly laughing
in their rolling white rapids
then over a waterfall
grand as my dreams….
I love this image. What an adventurous way to continue forever.
It is my celebration of release Deborah, of freedom, of becoming one with it all — in joy, not fear.
A wish, a prayer, and spell dancing as one. Such lovely imagery. And the final stanza… just beautiful.
Thank you so much Magaly… 🙂
A mountain lake sounds splendid to me. This whole poem sounded as if it could be set to music. Gorgeous writing, Rob.
Thank you Sara… 🙂