River of Autumn

And so we enter my third year of uni, when I went abroad for very nearly a whole year on the Erasmus programme. Destination: Strasbourg. My time there produced a select few poems, of which this is the only one from the first semester. Primarily inspired by the picturesque Ill river that flows through the heart of this wonderful historic city, and tied in with another theme that I'd explore further in later poems: the changing seasons.

I was consciously trying to write a more 'song-like' poem this time, hence the slightly different rhyme scheme. I think I had North American folk-rock in mind...James Taylor, Neil Young, that kind of thing. Yet neither of those seem to be in my little 'thanks to' list at the end. Hm. Well anyway, I've never been musically gifted, so I wonder how well this would actually work as a song? As a poem, it's probably OK.

RIVER OF AUTUMN

All the time we have to go

And walk along this busy road

Just because we tell ourselves so

And no-one knows where.

People and places are speeding by

Road's a-rolling under leaden skies

It's only natural that we wonder why

We have to move at all.

It's the river of autumn

And it slows down for all

It's the river of autumn

And it glides through the fall

Of the brazen leaves that whisper down with the breeze

It's the river of autumn, you can think what you please.

Yes there's a river by the side of the road

All through the past and the present it flows

As for the future well it doesn't know

And nor does it care.

You know the highway won't wait for you

Could well be hanging on your whole life through

And never get there so it's sad but true

But to the river you can go.

Cos when the highway won't wait for me

The little river's on its way to the sea

And you could come and keep me company

And we'd watch the season flow.

Well the river of autumn

It's got to come and then go

The river of autumn

A little peace it can show

In the misty reflections on the surface of the stream

Here today and gone tomorrow, but you can see the dream.

It's on the river that I like to go

Gradually drift on the gentle flow

Whenever time and place permit me so

But of the time I'm aware.

For now the time and tide they never wait

And now the calendar is getting late

The river's just an aisle in the cathedral of fate

And the weeks are moving on.

And so we walk towards another year

Another season's magic, hope, and fear

River of autumn you can still be near

In the lines of a simple song.

Now as the river to the cold it kneels

I can head into the icy fields

For memories until the water yields

To the warmth of the spring.

Thanks to: Kate & Anna McGarrigle for Arbre, Francis Cabrel for Octobre, Dire Straits for Telegraph Road, and Sting for Fortress Around Your Heart.