by Kathryn Flynn
Member since:
January 15, 2006

The flowing river flows

March 07, 2009 11:07 AM UTC (Updated: March 07, 2009 03:20 PM UTC)
views: 0 | comments: 63

The flowing river flows, I know,
But it doesn't make me any happier.
I see you taking things off the shelves,
emptying your cupboards and putting them in your suitcase,
and locking them up.

But it doesn't make me any happier.
I know it tears you up, too;
Never a day the same, this flowing river,
And that's what's so hard to accept.
This change. That change.
The many who were here when the river was at its fullest,
have gone, too. 
It was back when the river was that bright river which merrily skipped over smooth stones  all the way to the fae in a neverland in this shadow-cave world,
But that river is no more.
The flowing river flows.

 I wish you would stay,
just for my selfish, self-centered self-satisfaction,
It is useless to prattle, whine and cry,
For the flowing river flows, and I with it.
You have your reasons. I understand.

It hurts you, I know, as it hurts us all,
And it pangs me to know
I will not see your mug around here any more
Nor read your words, see your images,

In this shadow cave of reality,
the neon-plastic blinker that feeds our screens,
our minds, our hearts and souls;
it is but a shadow of reality,
and one we all crave, as we step once,
twice, thrice into the flowing river that  flows.
Never the same river twice, but it flows.
Yesterday, the river was warm; today it is cooler,
And that is hard to accept.
The flowing river flows,
And I with it.

 

Dedicated to friends who are leaving. Sadly.


 

Comments: 63

JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Mar 7, 2009, 11:10am UTC
People seem to come and go, Kathryn and come back again. We must let them float down their streams of life.

A beautiful write.
Mickey R. Mar 7, 2009, 11:14am UTC
This is a nice poem. Integrating the idea of the river and how it flows was a great way of making this piece even more meaningful.
Svetlana Goryacheva Mar 7, 2009, 11:16am UTC
Very well written, Kathryn, dear! :-) I agree with JustMe.

Blessings and best wishes - S.
Ruthe M. Mar 7, 2009, 11:19am UTC
Beautifully written and expressed, Kathryn.
Nancy Biri Mar 7, 2009, 11:26am UTC
very nice
Richard Frisbie Mar 7, 2009, 11:30am UTC
New people come through the open door.
Valerie Roars Mar 7, 2009, 11:32am UTC
beautiful - hugs!
Kathryn Flynn Mar 7, 2009, 11:35am UTC
Yes, Richard but it is never the same.

I am truly so very sad. Very sad.

Hugs, Valerie!!!
Kathryn Flynn Mar 7, 2009, 11:56am UTC
I am so very sad.
Adina P. Mar 7, 2009, 12:00pm UTC
you are on a roll ! your writing is simply stunning !
Beth J. Mar 7, 2009, 12:30pm UTC
That is beautiful.
Mark N. Mar 7, 2009, 12:47pm UTC
Kathryn,
It's more than one person, isn't it? It saddens me as well and I'm not the writer you are. What I might think - you write. Beautiful.
Mark
Randall C. Mar 7, 2009, 1:01pm UTC
very nice Kathryn. I think that they either have no time for it, or are getting fed up with all the pettiness...
Kathryn Flynn Mar 7, 2009, 1:48pm UTC
More than one person, yes.

Fed up, they are.

I don't blame them.

But it makes me very sad.
Beth G. Mar 7, 2009, 2:04pm UTC
That is too bad that it has to happen. Hopefully they will cem back!
Beautiful
Chuck Larlham Mar 7, 2009, 3:22pm UTC
Kathryn... Not to over-stretch your lovely metaphor, but I have ridden my river for 66 years. A great many of you have come along from time to time, but it's turned out to be a braided stream, and this is one of it's side-streams for me. I'll ride it a long time with you, but I may decide to swing back to the main current tomorrow.
Kathryn Flynn Mar 7, 2009, 3:24pm UTC
Chuck, a lovely metaphor........
blaine d. Mar 7, 2009, 3:43pm UTC
beautifully done!
Cristina S. Mar 7, 2009, 4:54pm UTC
very lovely... and yes, lots of comings and goings all the time - and that is a part of life anyway...
Angela A. Mar 7, 2009, 5:31pm UTC
It is always sad when a true friend leaves. And, they won't come back.
Lovely poem, and lovely sentiments, Kathryn.
Anne B. Grote Mar 7, 2009, 6:04pm UTC
So beautifully written with heartfelt words. I'm still here.
Kathryn Flynn Mar 7, 2009, 6:38pm UTC
thank you. And yes, Anne, I am so glad you are here.....
Solskin Iam Mar 7, 2009, 6:47pm UTC
i feel those empty spots in your heart for i have them too......
Lawrence U. Mar 7, 2009, 7:12pm UTC
Wonderful poem, Kathryn! Take heart, the sun will shine again!!
Hauntingly beautiful, Kathryn!
elizabeth evans Mar 7, 2009, 8:19pm UTC
As I read this, Kathryn, I was thinking you were talking about all our loved ones from the generation that proceeded us, who are no longer flowing down the River of Life. (My Uncle Charlie, 94, who also lived at Newfield House, made his passage last Thursday morn.) Only through reading through the comment strand did I realize you were talking about fellow Gatherites who have left the site.

Poem is beautiful, either way.
Georgiana S. Mar 7, 2009, 8:21pm UTC
"...all the worlds a stage and (to paraphrase) we, the players, have our exits and our entrances..."
Why do people leave? fear, other interests?
Kimberly Ripley Mar 7, 2009, 8:52pm UTC
Life throws painful changes our way sometimes. You've illustrated them eloquently here!
Larry H. Mar 7, 2009, 9:05pm UTC
thanks for sharing
Jan S. Mar 7, 2009, 9:07pm UTC
This is lovely, Kathryn. Sometimes it's painful to lose friends and loved ones, but the continuing flow of the river is comforting and it carries us along to the future. I love living on a lke because the water currents are never the same. Change is the only constant in life and in nature.
Kathryn Flynn Mar 7, 2009, 9:19pm UTC
I am only sad when I come back here.....
Dorine H. Mar 7, 2009, 10:33pm UTC
And sometimes that rier seems ready to overwhelm us.
Ron B. Mar 7, 2009, 10:34pm UTC
It used to feel like home. Travis had me laughing my first day. Soon, there werer people to say hey to, catch up with, read their poems, stories, chapters or look at their photographs, painting, sculpture, videos. Watching new artists bloom and celebrating the virtuoso's latest creation. Vicky, Ina, Kate, Elizabeth, Ann, to name just a few, got better and better as they focused on humor, politics, history and relationships. Ronnie wrote powerful stories of an Appalachia mining town that no longer exists. Spartan returned from the Afghanistan with powerful video and a bellyful of war. John and Ed wrote poetry that made me weep and Barbary could say so much with so few word that I read them again and again and again. You've written a little bit about everything and what a treat to watch you grow as a person, mom, writer and confidant. Work had gotten more time consuming, which isn't a complaint, and I have to focus on a project that's been too easy to neglect. My son joined me at the office and is headed to graduate school so he can join my practice. With every update, the site seemed more confused with its ultimate destination. The bells and whistles haven't excited but aggravated me as have changing rules involving privacy. The river still flows.
Timothy V. Mar 7, 2009, 11:20pm UTC
Nice poem Kathryn. Great job!
Kathryn Flynn Mar 7, 2009, 11:27pm UTC
Sigh.
John F Walter Mar 8, 2009, 3:39am UTC
Great riff on Heraclitus´ aphorism about flux and change, Kathryn, which shows a self-awareness about the danger of identifying overmuch with fixed memories of the past that only cause suffering in the present. This greater insight into one´s own feelings, projected onto the world of illusion, has a nice pre-sim feel in your use of the updated Platonic metaphor: ¨the neon-plastic blinker that feeds our screens.¨

Overall, a poem that is aptly lachrymose, without diving into lugubriousness. THE FLOWING RIVER FLOWS understands that sentimentality is for suckers and people who live in the past.
Carol Roach Mar 8, 2009, 5:11am UTC
this is excellent but I am wondering why the redundancy the flowing river flows,

not the rippling riiver flows,
the mighty river flows

or what ever
Ann Marcaida Mar 8, 2009, 10:38am UTC
I like your suggestion that the flow of the river dwindles as we age.
Kathryn Flynn Mar 8, 2009, 3:43pm UTC
Thank you all.
Stirling D. Mar 8, 2009, 7:45pm UTC
The metaphor of the river is so perfect for illustrating change. Change is not bad, all in it itself. But it's true that this particular bend in the river will not come again, and even if we go back and try to capture it later, it will not be the same. But in the essence of it all, there is a continuity that we can rely on - that which is beyond change. Oneness.
Kathryn Flynn Mar 8, 2009, 7:52pm UTC
Stirling, yes - your last line says it all......
Dan R. Mar 8, 2009, 10:09pm UTC
It is sad that many friends come and go, but most of them do come back. I know I have left for a while, and then come back. Sometimes we just need a break from things. :)

Nicely penned Kathryn.
Teresa A. Mar 8, 2009, 11:11pm UTC
Sorry that you are so sad, but I do understand.
Kathryn Flynn Mar 8, 2009, 11:54pm UTC
Thank you all.....
ELLEN B. Mar 9, 2009, 12:12pm UTC
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and that can be so true.. It is hard not to be able to touch in some way those that mean so much. I too know of those who have left, taking with them a piece of my heart, but people change and grow Kathryn, and I have connections here I adore but no longer hear from..This makes me sad as well.

One thing about the river Kathryn, it does just "keep flowing along" and as we are a part of it, so shall we flow, and view and see many new things, and always know we touched many banks along the way..You have done a beautiful job with this write..Ellen B
Kathryn Flynn Mar 9, 2009, 12:23pm UTC
Ellen, thank you... In my case, I still correspond off Gather, so that helps....
Cheryl W. Mar 10, 2009, 8:42pm UTC
Beautiful, Kathryn. I have seen so many people come and go here...and it always leaves me sad when I see them leave. You expressed it beautifully here.
Kathryn Flynn Mar 10, 2009, 11:15pm UTC
Thank you all...
Chas Andrews Mar 11, 2009, 1:27pm UTC
thanks!
Kathryn Flynn Mar 11, 2009, 6:26pm UTC
thank you
karie anne Mar 12, 2009, 7:48am UTC
well said, Kathryn. nice metaphor. I miss Gather as it was when I arrived.
Kathryn Flynn Mar 12, 2009, 9:07pm UTC
Karie, yeah, I know. Me, too....
Kathryn Flynn Mar 14, 2009, 2:41pm UTC
marianne, it is so sad what has happened...I really don't want any of you to leave....the result would be disastrous......
regina k. Mar 15, 2009, 4:22pm UTC
so filled with emotions
wonderful
Kathryn Flynn Mar 15, 2009, 11:42pm UTC
regina, thank you....
Paula C. May 2, 2009, 2:56am UTC
I wanted to let you know that I had stopped by to check out what youÂ’ve recently shared with all of us here at gather.
Since IÂ’m in the middle of Finals week, I hate to admit, but I must give in to the temptation of leaving a generic comment
But to give it a little personal touch, I added some artwork for you to enjoy!


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