POETRY
Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 3:18 am
Good Evening, Cottonwood, by Charles Carreon
It's one of those opaque nights.
The moon goes down early and young.
The atmosphere thickens and hides
Stars, hills, trees --
Your voice is out there in the dark distance.
Listen, Cottonwood,
let's run away together,
tonight --
I'll be a leaf that doesn't care where
We're going. You can carry me beyond our
bridge, under the railroad, through the meadows
And into California. Splash by Hilt and
Slip through Hornbrook about midnight.
Merge with the Klamath in the dark
we'll give ourselves up to the rush
of its waves and wind through canyons
Of volcanic rock tottering with
individualistic pines and junipers.
Below Oak Knoll we'll yoke arms with Beaver Creek
and storm through Happy Camp --
tonight, Cottonwood, tonight.
As the cold comes on with increasing bite
we'll take the final stretch two steps
At a time, And in the predawn light
We'll sight the soft glow of endless waves
and oceanborne clouds.
As light spreads over the Coast
we'll look back through the weaving woods
-- tall trunks the warp, heavy boughs of emerald-black
the weft, with silver dawn like a luminous arch
suffusing the tapestry with light.
The grey waves, Cottonwood,
Will swallow us both and we'll return
to lap the shore we came from that gave us birth,
To shape with sandy fingers
the discarded roots and boles of the rain forest,
Drifting North and South along the rocky coast,
Wandering with the rain.
It's one of those opaque nights.
The moon goes down early and young.
The atmosphere thickens and hides
Stars, hills, trees --
Your voice is out there in the dark distance.
Listen, Cottonwood,
let's run away together,
tonight --
I'll be a leaf that doesn't care where
We're going. You can carry me beyond our
bridge, under the railroad, through the meadows
And into California. Splash by Hilt and
Slip through Hornbrook about midnight.
Merge with the Klamath in the dark
we'll give ourselves up to the rush
of its waves and wind through canyons
Of volcanic rock tottering with
individualistic pines and junipers.
Below Oak Knoll we'll yoke arms with Beaver Creek
and storm through Happy Camp --
tonight, Cottonwood, tonight.
As the cold comes on with increasing bite
we'll take the final stretch two steps
At a time, And in the predawn light
We'll sight the soft glow of endless waves
and oceanborne clouds.
As light spreads over the Coast
we'll look back through the weaving woods
-- tall trunks the warp, heavy boughs of emerald-black
the weft, with silver dawn like a luminous arch
suffusing the tapestry with light.
The grey waves, Cottonwood,
Will swallow us both and we'll return
to lap the shore we came from that gave us birth,
To shape with sandy fingers
the discarded roots and boles of the rain forest,
Drifting North and South along the rocky coast,
Wandering with the rain.