Tumult and Calm

The water lifts

From the ocean spring

And the floods are caught

On the wind's wild wing,

Careening inland

As they go

To pack the mountains

Deep with snow;

To fill the valleys,

Far and vast,

With beauty never meant

To last;

To bring a bounty

To my door,

but only through

One summer more.

For the sun smiles down

And the water's free

To wander back

To the mother sea.

(First published in Along the Lane: Dedicated to the memory of Thomas William Larsen, who lost his life in World War II)