Wednesday, August 16, 2017

FINAL JOURNEY

Time for Midweek Motif at Poets United
and we’re asked to feature the word Flood.
Submitted to Midweek Motif
August 16, 2017




When I was a child, there was a burbling little creek a mile or so from our farm.  It was  the kind of stream that meandered through the meadows, shallow enough that one could wade across it at any point.  But, in the Spring heavy rains, it became a raging torrent, quickly rising beyond its banks, flooding fields and galloping on its way south, where it eventually emptied into the Mississippi River and thence into the Gulf of Mexico and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean.   Someone once wrote “All the waters of the world are one”, and so I think perhaps a flooding rain drains from the fields into the ditches, into the rivulets, into the streams, into the creeks and into the rivers, then rushes to the ocean, where moisture is drawn up into the clouds until their fat bellies are filled with rain and the cycle repeats itself.  The power of floods is the stuff of legends.  Many years ago, when working on family history, I discovered that the cemetery where many of my ancestors were buried was swept away by massive flooding of the Mississippi.   They were hardy pioneers who made their way from Virginia to Kentucky and into Indiana.  Strange to think that, dressed in their funeral finery, they took yet another journey to heaven knows where. 

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Photo is my own surreal
digital art creation.

17 comments:

  1. "They were hardy pioneers who made their way from Virginia to Kentucky and into Indiana."

    Very interesting flood tale.

    Much love...

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  2. "bellies are filled with rain"
    So visual and personal. Very fine.

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  3. I vould envision every line. Breathtaking to think of a graveyard, jouneying.

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  4. I would be very upset to visit my ancestors' graves, only to find that they had been swept away by a flood!

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  5. Very expressive I can imagine the hole cycle of the rain who gives and takes from us. Well written and I love the image as well.

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  6. I enjoyed your reflection, Bev. It is good to think back about those earlier times.

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  7. A beautifully told story indeed Beverly!

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  8. Wow! I got a vivid picture of those buried ancestors floating away. This is so well written, Bev. Also, I adore that photo.

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  9. What a glorious narrative on childhood, family, weather and everything else including a flooded cemetery full of ancestors Indybev.

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  10. Love what you've written and thoughts about the flooded cemetery...

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  11. Literal flood is scary and sad. I could see the happenings you've described. So visual.

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  12. Such a potent narrative here, Beverly! I felt like I was right there with you.

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  13. The washing away of the cemetery is a stark reminder of reality.

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  14. I love your photo! I have seen many pictures of coffins and such floating in flood waters. I like that your ancestors took a trip after death...we won't know until we get there but perhaps they enjoyed it. Lol!

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    Replies
    1. I like your image as well. Although it might be unsettling for those left behind, perhaps some among your ancestors had a hankering to return to other places, other times.

      Elizabeth

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  15. Your flood makes me glad that I have chosen to be cremated and scattered, although the displaced coffins seem to be a universal in floods. A wonderful write Bev. Very descriptive.

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