On “Kaaterskill Creek” by Erik Koeppel
for the memory of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The site is downstream from the Kaaterskill Falls—
where it is so shady, and certainly wet.
When listening closely one hears nature’s calls;
that beautiful atmosphere’s hard to forget.
On Kaaterskill Creek you may find in the wood,
a modern day painter who’s painting its light.
His name’s Erik Koeppel; his painting is good;
the manner of A. B. Durand is his style.
There, trying to study the beautiful seen,
is someone in blue, past the rocks on the stream,
where lost in a forest interior scene,
she looks very small, but a glimpse in a dream.
Nearby at the edge of the swift-flowing creek,
outgrows from its bank an old birch tree’s tall trunk.
It’s easy to see what it wanted to seek—
the sun up above—how it wanted to peek!
far from the moss where its thick roots are sunk.
Bruce Dale Wise is a poet living in Washington State.
Featured Image: “Kaaterskill Creek” by Erik Koeppel