By the River

The frenzied city far away Abandoned for a calmer day Now relish Devon’s autumn hues That gild the trees and tint the views Blissful hours beside the river A sudden gust; the branches quiver A seedpod falls to float downstream Borne by the water keen and clean Perhaps to reach a distant sea Via wooded banks and verdant lee But soon to meet its voyage’s end As stranded at the river’s bend There to set its tender roots At springtime force its own green shoots And so its destiny, not sea But to become a towering tree To flourish where the river flows And shed in turn its embryos That spiral downwards to the flow Along the current fast and slow Ever reaching for the sky As seasons of the year pass by Thriving on the river’s bank With others of its sylvan rank The spreading canopy now shades The springtime flowers in woodland glades Thus Nature’s cycle is assured And river gazers never bored