Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Through Time’s Window” by: rob kistner © 11/3/23
My wife and I
have a wonderful
new Seattle home
shared lovingly with family
ruled by my precious
my 10-year-old grandson
but there are moments
I gaze back 8 years
down the halls of time
I see my beloved Oregon home
of 25 amazing years
this morning
I’m lost in this daydream…
…looking through time ‘s window
I see a warm Oregon summer
I hear nature
the chuff
of a tree’d red squirrel
the song
of birds
that flit and fly
chickadee
goldfinch
western bluebird
and others
in a flash of orange
a striking northern flicker
momentarily eschewing insects
is peck peck pecking
cracking black-oil sunflower seeds
that spill from our feeder
a red-tailed hawk calls
from atop a Sitka spruce
swaying
in the crisp blue sky
the muffled belling of a deer
wandering the safety of old-growth
whispers
through the foothills
Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Old Growth Sanctuary”
by: rob kistner © 11/3/23
the rustle of leaves
stirred by the breeze
wafting through the valley
smartly punctuated
by the staccato
of conifer cones
that fall
from time to time
wrested free by chickaree
and chipmunk
chattering high in Douglas fir
busy with their forage
wap — wap — wap
they bounce off our roof
striking the ground
closely followed
by the scamper
of their liberators
crunching their way
to the heart-meat of the cone
the delicacy
that elicits this furious industry
drifting in the window
intoxicating fragrances
cedar
pine
fir
lily
rose
lilac
grasses
loam
and more
a rich
earthy bouquet
Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “PacNW Bouquet”
by: rob kistner © 11/3/23
it carries me further
deeper into my memories
to the mountains
and forests
and the amazing waterfalls
that first imprinted Oregon
indelibly in my heart
caught in my reverie
I breathe in
deeply
to suddenly remember…
…I’m not in my Oregon home
I am in my new Seattle home
it’s filled to overflowing
with family
without whom I’b be lost
and love
for a moment
I do not open my eyes
I linger a bit longer
in my beautiful daydream
of my Oregon
my heart will forever be there
but I’ll never go back to stay
not until my ashes are spread
high in the Cascade Mountains
on Mt. Hood
across breathtaking Lost Lake
but here
now
on this day
filled with memories
and joy
a solitary tear
falls
Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Mt. Hood Majesty”
by: rob kistner © 11/3/23
*
rob kistner © 2023
[367 words]
Poetry at: WGO
Poetry at: Poets & Storytellers
Intensely and lovingly beautiful! What a reverie! Love the love of family, too, and the tear. Thank you for giving me a piece of Oregon.
Thank you Susan, and you aremost welcome… 🙂
Normally I don’t comment on lengthy poems but this is really really beautiful and heartfelt. I even read it twice. ..So pleased you are in a happy loving place at the moment with wonderful memories of your magical mountain home. All the best Rob !
Thank you so much Rall… 🙂 …I am honored you embraced my poem. I was blessed to spend 25 years in the place my heart took deepest root.
A beautiful tribute to Oregon What else can you wish for in the land than mountains, forests and waterfalls. I love the cute chipmunks and squirrels as well. We don’t have them here but in Holland where I lived we had squirrels.
Thank you Marja… 🙂
A wonderfully shared daydream combining past and present memories and experiences.
Truly pleasant locations….
Thank you Eileen… 🙂
It’s so wonderful to be lost in such beautiful words and feelings. Lovely.
Thank you Sumana… 🙂
It sounds like a place to fall in love with, indeed!
It’s a magical place Rosemary… 🙂
This is a stunning poem, Rob. I really feel the spirit of Oregon, and you inspire me to yearn for it too!
Thank you so much Mary… 🙂
I feel the same about my lovely Appalachian mountains and home in West Virginia. Contented and grateful for this space and my place in it. Lovely write.
Thank you Deborah… 🙂
I know that feeling well, Rob, as I spent 17 years in Port Alberni, longing for my ocean home. Oregon is so beautiful. However the Pacific NorthWest is all pretty special, and I am so glad you are surrounded by family. That’s what matters most.
Yes it certainly is Sherry… 🙂
Oh Rob ~~~ and here I sit in the Oregon you describe so eloquently, beautifully, perfectly. Three deer chomping on the apples in our front yard, the last three on the tree this morning.
Yesterday, my wife helps me realize that living here for me is probably a blessing in disguise. I’m four hours away from that pristine wilderness that I used to love, and if I still lived there, I want to be in the middle of it. However, my health does not permit that anymore so the fact that it’s out of easy reasonable reach, makes that longing just as sweet, but not as tormenting. The wilderness wandering for me is over, but the dream lives on forever, as do the rich vivid memories — and I’m so blessed for it. Now I’m blessed for the love of that I am surrounded with, and the pure joy of my grandson, which I did not have when I lived down in Oregon. So it had all worked out wonderfully. I am a lucky lucky man.
I’m glad that I live in a place that resonates with my soul. I’d be sad if I ever had to leave it.
You are blessed Rommy. At 76, I had the perfect place in which to untether my soul for 25 years. It was delicious. For the last 8 years since, I have had the love of son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in which to swaddle — for which I feel gratitude beyond my ability to effectively express. So I have a run of 33 years of joy and good fortune — even with my health challenges.