The Potomac River at Night: National 4-H Conference 2006

(A shoddy attempt at my poetry assignment from the IM conversation... it's a work in progress...)


We walked by the Potomac at night,

Right outside the Roosevelt memorial.
There were cherry trees lining the shore,
and a winding concrete sidewalk with tiny little lights in it
So that they would shine softly on the blossoms
as they fell into the water
like a silent rain.

The city was all lit up.
and the darkness wrapped around us
Gazing out
We could see the white marble of the Jefferson Memorial
illuminated like some roman temple
and the lights of civilization,
Mixed with that of the stars,
dappling the water.

To be caught up in a moment like that
Your heart being squeezed in a phantom fist
both with excitement and serenity
Dangling your toes in the cool water,
a pair of heels on the shore and my black silk dress
Leaning back on my hands that rested in the shadowed green grass
Business suits and formal finery
Ties loosened and pulled off or worn at a jaunty angle
Somebody, not with us, has lit a cigarette and sat down beside us on the grass.
Acrid smoke, somehow comforting, and another pair of eyes looking and wondering

Letting it drink you all in
Or you drink it in.
I'm not quite sure which it is.