Home » Poems » Doug Vinson » The Far Side of the River

Doug Vinson - Premium Member

Notes About The Poem

This baby sea turtle looks a bit anxious.

The Far Side of the River

Swimming both ways - fears few enough
That youth crossed often in rapture,
Far side bank's rushes, secret home
Serenity in seclusion.

Thoughts of decades past stall upon instant
And I wonder if I could do it now.



February 28, 2017

Copyright © Doug Vinson | Year Posted 2017

fearmemoryriververse

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Kunda Chamatete

April 12, 2017 at 1:24 AM

The strong flow of your poem sweeps us away and dumps us where you want to get us. I'm a grateful reader, you are a great poet Doug :). Congrats

April 5, 2017 at 4:54 PM

Shalom! U great swimmer, whose many rewards include secrets revealed in Nature's bull-rushes/cattails/rushes. A R U S H in Nature - addictive! Thanks Doug, AD

April 7, 2017 at 11:11 AM

Ha! Anil. : ) You are too kind. To think of being 13 and immortal, and now to look in the mirror, 45 years later... Have to laugh.

April 2, 2017 at 6:29 PM

You have certainly captured the look in this turtle's eye! Hopefully we will all make it:)

April 3, 2017 at 2:45 PM

Hey Chris. : ) We people do better than those turtles - gulp - at least to a point.

March 29, 2017 at 8:36 AM

Congrats Doug, for your placement with this meaningful piece!! ;-)

March 29, 2017 at 1:13 PM

Hey Teddy. : ) Thank you.

March 20, 2017 at 11:17 AM

I wonder that every day... Beautiful Doug Congrats :)

March 21, 2017 at 1:58 PM

Hi Lukas. I sit in the bar of the restaurant that overlooks the river, and.... Well, that's it. ; )

Pandita Sietesantos

March 19, 2017 at 3:09 PM

Hi Doug, congratulations on your win! This piece took me back to my youth when I spent many idle hours swimming in "my" river! :-)! Hugs and a 7! Pandita

March 19, 2017 at 7:29 PM

Hey Pandita. : ) Thanks - and yes, a simpler time for most of us.

Charlotte Puddifoot

March 19, 2017 at 5:15 AM

i said this was a good one - congrats on your win!

March 19, 2017 at 1:51 PM

You did, and thank you, Charlotte. (Somehow I escaped your harshness muhahaha....)

March 18, 2017 at 5:24 PM

A beautifully expressed memory Doug.

March 19, 2017 at 1:50 PM

Hey James. : ) Thank you.

March 17, 2017 at 9:17 PM

Beautifully expressed Doug, a 7 from me

March 18, 2017 at 8:37 AM

(((Maria))) : )

Vladislav Raven

March 16, 2017 at 11:35 PM

Hi Doug, I am glad i am no longer young and if i were given the chance to go back i would not take it. I look forward now to the adventures that await me going forward.I really like the concept of the poem Doug, and the words used. Excellent. Has to be a seven. Your Friend....Mike.

March 18, 2017 at 8:27 AM

Ahoy Mike! I appreciate that - and feel the same way, don't want to go back and do it all over. : P

March 15, 2017 at 5:08 PM

You can do it...... nice write... ~*

March 15, 2017 at 8:17 PM

Ha! Thanks, Eve. I wonder what canoes are going for there days... ; )

Connie Marcum Wong

March 15, 2017 at 3:13 AM

An introspective piece in a dreamy nostalgic expression Doug. I like! 7 ; )

March 15, 2017 at 8:14 PM

Cheers, Connie. Thank you. : )

March 15, 2017 at 2:32 AM

But would you want to, Doug? In some aspects, maybe! But youth is definitely wasted on the young, Haha. So, this is for a contest? GL matey.

March 15, 2017 at 8:13 PM

Budgie, it would now be a *serious* challenge, a more intense thrill. Yet no, wouldn't really want it.

March 12, 2017 at 8:39 AM

I like this piece a lot Doug. Excellent photo to go with it.

March 12, 2017 at 8:32 PM

Gracias, Forrest. While I don't think the baby turtle picture goes with the poem - he, after all, is faced with a life-and-death scramble across the sand to the sea, with it's second layer of high-odds death - I do love the human-seeming chagrin or other emotion we may find on his face.

March 11, 2017 at 3:33 PM

Doug I can hear Frank Sinatra singing "The Ant Song' :) well done!! Big Hugggs!! deb

March 11, 2017 at 8:07 PM

Ha! Right on, Deb. Released my birth year, that song was...

March 11, 2017 at 2:28 AM

I am not a big fan of this style but I just wanted to advise you I stopped by

March 11, 2017 at 8:01 PM

Hi Denise. : ) Well - hey - glad you did. That made me laugh. ; )

March 10, 2017 at 4:29 PM

I have often had the pleasure to find seclusion and serenity, Doug. There are moments when being alone with nature can work wonders! // Swimming to the far side can be very metaphorical; in life there are times when we have to reach out beyond our comfort zone!! Regards // paul

March 11, 2017 at 8:01 PM

Paul. : ) Right on - totally agree - the value of solitude. It's not for everybody....

March 10, 2017 at 12:55 AM

Love the contemplative feel of your words. A poetic respite in this frazzled, connected world. Terrific writing, a pleasure to read :-) blessings, lynn the baby turtle indeed looks anxious, I marvel at their longevity.

March 10, 2017 at 11:26 AM

Thanks, Lynn. I think most of us get more contemplative as we age. I sure had a sore lack of it at certain younger times.

Eileen Manassian

March 9, 2017 at 3:59 PM

Doug...we all wonder about a great many things. :) thanks for your visit to my blog.

March 10, 2017 at 11:25 AM

Cheers, Eileen, and ain't it the truth...? : )

Rhonda Johnson-Saunders

March 5, 2017 at 10:35 AM

Ahhh, to be young and fearless again! It's wonderful to have memories. Even if we don't reach the other side in youth, I believe we get there in our own time...I love these lines, Doug. They have given me much to think about this morning!

March 7, 2017 at 7:02 PM

Good deal, Rhonda. I guess there is no hurry....

March 3, 2017 at 7:31 PM

I swim in dreams of my youth, days with my mother and memories of her holding my hand as a child.. Serenity, how it can soothe , when deep in thought in the deep woods! So much packed into just six verses!A7

March 7, 2017 at 6:02 PM

Thanks, Robert. Memory - indeed - so much of what we are.

March 3, 2017 at 2:29 AM

I like this, I thought at first it was going to be whimsical, like one of mine called The Ride, thank you for coming to read my granddaughter's poem Dark Moonlight :)

March 7, 2017 at 6:01 PM

Cheers, Debbie - thanks. : )

Andrea Dietrich

March 2, 2017 at 6:52 PM

Ha. you are right about the sea turtle!

Andrea Dietrich

March 2, 2017 at 6:51 PM

Oh, I love this one, a bit contemplative and the last line is awesome!

March 3, 2017 at 10:04 AM

Thank you, Andrea. : ) To me it feels like we are leaving the poetic hills and then the last line dumps us on the flatlands of reality. Or something like that... ; P

March 2, 2017 at 12:07 AM

What we thought we could do we always did. What we never thought to do we never did. In memory, we do things again. John

March 2, 2017 at 10:40 AM

Cheers, John. : ) Thank goodness for memory.

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