A Poem to Start the Week: The Unseen

This poem is by Ralph Noble, a friend who 50 years ago did his student-teaching in my classroom at McHenry Elementary. Ralph gave his permission to share this. I copied the words from his Facebook page and took the liberty of arranging them in InDesign and then pasting them here.

The Unseen

I don’t see the hands, 

   but they picked the strawberries 

   I drooled over for dessert 

You can’t see the hands, 

   but they lifted your father from 

   his nursing home bed to clean him

I didn’t see the hands, 

   but they cleaned the hotel room 

   that I stayed in last night for $250

We didn’t see the hands, 

   but they washed the dishes from 

   our fabulous $200 dinner

We don’t see their faces. 

   They are behind masks.

We don’t see their names. 

   They are taped over and hidden from sight.

We don’t know which agency they work for, 

   it is classified.

They come armed. They come in mass

The unseen faces take away the unseen hands 

   to unknown places, out of sight. Gone. 

Gone from the fields

Gone from the nursing homes

Gone from the hotels

Gone from the restaurants

Gone from their families and friends

Gone from us

Gone

- by Ralph Noble

A Late Afternoon Riverwalk

Sheila and I needed to check Mother's house after several very cold days. All was fine. Since we were coming from West Rome, rather than starting our evening walk from home we decided to park at the Mount Berry Trailhead near the post office and start there. There must have been a dozen cars in the lot; we were not the only folks ready for a walk in the not quite so cold weather.

There was still plenty of ice about though the dusting of snow was gone except in the deepest shadows.

There only a few icy/snowy spots along the riverwalk.

This fall/winter collection of debris under the Veterans Parkway bridge has a torrent of water streaming around the eastern side.

The highway department will have a pretty big job clearing this out.

We walked all the way to the temporary end of the trail at the new Big Dry Creek bridge. When the short stretch of riverwalk from the bridge to the Armuchee Bypass is completed the Riverwalk will be a complete circuit for our backyard to the confluence on the west side, upstream to the stadium, across to the west side by the bypass bridge and back to our house. All that with no road crossings. Wow.

x

It was almost dark by the time we got back to the pond near the trailhead.

A beautiful end to a nice walk.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Literal Riverwalk

 Anyone think we might get to take a literal river walk this week?

Thanks Donald Murdock for jogging my memory of this 1940 picture. The bridge in the background is the Fifth Avenue Bridge before the steel towers were donated to the war effort a couple of years later.

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Comments

Sam Burnham I'd love to do that!
Terrell Shaw Looks like some thin ice behind 'em.
Sam Burnham I'm guessing it would be spotty. You'd have to watch your step.

Donald Murdock Hell, no worries! I've been on thin ice for years! Used to skate (mostly fell down) on a frozen cranberry bog next to my farm in Plympton, Ma.

Wendy Davis Family lore has it that my uncle drove a car across at about that same spot probably during that same era.
Terrell Shaw And lived to serve in Congress? Or a different uncle? A Congressman who recites poetry might try such a trick.

Wendy Davis Correct, it was one and the same!
Donald Murdock I remember hearing that story. That Davis? When I was a kid, we went to Washington & visited your uncle. Gave us a tour of the Capitol.

Wendy Davis Yes, Congressman John W Davis was my dad's older brother. Hope you enjoyed the tour;-) He sure loved being your Congressman!! This weather reminds me of one of the coolest things Johnny got to do - he traveled to Antarctica as a part of a congressional delegation trip.
Christie Hufstedler Boyd As long as the river is unfrozen for the Polar Bear Paddle on Saturday!
Terrell Shaw Did we see him on our Cherry Blossum trip, Don? He served till about 74, I think. Not sure when he was first elected.
Wendy Davis First elected in 1960 and lost in the 1974 Democratic Primary

Donald Murdock I remember the band trip, but I was maybe 10 or 11 when my fam went up. I remember riding through the tunnel from his offices to the Capitol. Had lunch in the Cong. Cafeteria. He had a long tenure!
Terrell Shaw I still have one of his lithographed buttons. I campaigned for him in the nasty 74 race against the Koch Brothers' daddy's Bircher friends.. the more things change the more they stay the same, huh?
Wendy Davis Frighteningly similar, Terrell!
Donald Murdock Guess I was 13 at the time.
Donald Murdock You said it, brother! Viet Nam/Iraq...same, same.
Terrell Shaw G'nite folks… lordy how did it get to be midnite. Up to tell stories to kindergartners tomorrow if we have school.

Donald Murdock Have fun, stay safe. Ciao.

Hill Sawyer That's an incredible photo. I would have never believed it! It's warmed up up here for the weekend, we had rain instead of snow today. A weird contrast to the ice storm of last week. Heading down to Georgia by road tomorrow so let's hope it's clear sailing!

Laurie Craw Incredible on another level...that a father would take his child out on the ice over a deep river. I mean, Georgia rivers may freeze over but it ain't as thick as up north.
Howard Smith Wow
Jaki Day Wow....should we invest in some ice skates ?

Ralph Noble My Dad always told a story of driving a car on the ice on the river in the 30's

Ann Gore Thank you, Terrell for posting great pic!