Thursday, July 27, 2006

Eulogy


This is a piece written a couple of years ago. 

Some recent events brought it to mind. 

The picture is a copy of a water color I completed at the same time as the writing.


There are places in our lives which, like people in our lives encourage, comfort, inspire and entertain us.  They are dependable, yet invigorating.  They are stable, yet surprising.  Like friends, we learn their ways and characteristics through time and experience.

One such place was the Lake Fort Smith spillway.



Lovers have both initiated and renewed their vows of love on its ledges.  Giggling children have dipped their toes in its inviting coolness.  Would be philosophers have contemplated the mysteries of existence while listening to the voices in its trees and waters.

In the gentle fall, I have known its colorful, reflective quiet; in the stark winter: raging, explosions of power.  In the spring it was like an expectant young mother preparing for birth and its stable patience under girded the noisy, playful crowds of summer.



In its demise, there is the comfort that places remain to which we can go for encouragement, inspiration and entertainment and there are new acquaintances awaiting us.  But the beauty lost, the dignity of its existence, the effect it has had on my life and the sweet, hilarious collection of memories require this eulogy.

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