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Riverbed
76 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 25, 2025
A collection of decent poems worth about 3 stars; only reason this has to be a 4 star rating are the 2 exquisite poems; the world-class 'Lost' and the lesser known: 'To be sung on the water':
Lost
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
To Be Sung on the Water
For Rolfe Humphries, 1894-1969
Whatever you say or sing
On the water should be fading.
The air has far to go
After it leaves you,
Rising and falling down
To the sea like the weather.
You needn't sing at all
If, when you hold still,
The wavering of the wind
Against you, against you
Is simpler and more telling.
Listen, and end now,
Moved only by the water.
Lost
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
To Be Sung on the Water
For Rolfe Humphries, 1894-1969
Whatever you say or sing
On the water should be fading.
The air has far to go
After it leaves you,
Rising and falling down
To the sea like the weather.
You needn't sing at all
If, when you hold still,
The wavering of the wind
Against you, against you
Is simpler and more telling.
Listen, and end now,
Moved only by the water.
January 2, 2022
This collection is a mixed bag of nature poems and philosophical musings, with images not quite clear enough to create memorable impressions. Too many poems are littered with hackneyed phrases and trite closing lines. To his credit, the poet does fess up to “willful failure to report/ On what goes on and on in the heart.” (“Doing Time”) Yet, the volume is worth reading if only for the message in “Lost”:
“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.”
Favorite Poems:
“A Victorian Idyll”
“The Survivor”
“Gift Wrapping”
“The Doves of Merida”
“Lost”
“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.”
Favorite Poems:
“A Victorian Idyll”
“The Survivor”
“Gift Wrapping”
“The Doves of Merida”
“Lost”
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews