the running water
home of living fish and
silver of the sun
The mountains stand up around the main street m Harper’s Ferry
Shadows stand around the town, and mist creeps up the flanks of tall
rocks
A terrible push of waters sometime made a cloven way for their flood
here
On the main street the houses huddle, the walls crouch for cover
And yet— up at Hilltop House, or up on Jefferson’s Rock, there are
lookouts.
There are the long curves of the meeting of the Potomac and the
Shenandoah,
There is the running water home of living fish and silver of the sun
The lazy flat rocks spread out browns for green and blue silver to run
over
Mascots of silver circles move around Harper’s Ferry
No wonder John Brown came here to fight and be hanged
No wonder Thomas Jefferson came here to sit with his proud red head
writing notes on the great State of Virginia
Borders hem the town, borders of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland,
Be absent minded a minute or two and you guess at what state you
are in
Harper’s Ferry is a meeting place of winds and waters, rocks and ranges
Landscapes Including States of the Union by Carl Sandburg as publishing Good Morning America in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1950).
Yes I went for the one line, There is the running water home of living fish and silver of the sun, to go with my photograph of Horse Creek on Hilton Head Island.
It is not Harper’s Ferry.
This is Harper’s Ferry with me on Jefferson’s Rock and my brother Eddie standing in front of me.
As Mr. Sandburg writes:
or up on Jefferson’s Rock, there are
lookouts.
No wonder Thomas Jefferson came here to sit with his proud red head
writing notes on the great State of Virginia.
I have to point out that visitiors are no longer allowed to sit of stand on Jefferson’s rock.
Today there are guard rails to protect the rock.
In Jefferson’s day there were no were upright stone post to keep the rock in place.
BUT I DIGRESS.
My photo is of the sun over Horse Creek in the center of Hilton Head Island.
Miles from anywhere and miles from anywhere.
Be absent minded a minute or two and you guess at what state you
are in.
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