Moving On: Over Boards

by in poetry and tagged , , ,

scary footbridge

Walk my wooden planks
Be held in suspense midair
Let go of your grasp

Steal a glance below
You will feel your need for me
The wind will pick up

Steadily you’ll swing
Dance in a dervish two-step
Sway to go beyond

Confidence may soar
Fear will step on from behind
The End is ahead

Still you have to cross
Better days already seen
Best you move on now

▼

©  Uncle Tree

Photograph by Anuradha Ratnaweera

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anuradha/235943749/

Let the joy be in the doing, and the angst will work its way out.

Be a bridge for others; a peacemaker; In Transit

to becoming a bridge for all.

Keith Alan Watson

Uncle Tree's House

*

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151 thoughts on “Moving On: Over Boards”

  3. Love the photo of the wooden swinging bridge and so true we always move forward through the hard times toward better days and they always come.

  9. Thank you, sunset dragon person! If you stay put, you’ll get walked on.
    A mid-life crisis often leaves one feeling past their prime, as we say,
    but going back is not an option. There must yet be a way to “top” one’s
    self, and continue to achieve, albeit, in a new and different manner.

  10. Thank you! Glad you see the humility The Brave so badly need.
    “Stuck in the middle with you.” by Stealers Wheel (came to mind)
    You certainly get the idea, Jeff. With Fear closing in,
    we face The End, then take a pause and pray we don’t go down.
    About here is where we look up and hope we see Jacob’s Ladder.

    As Elders, we have much to lose, whereas, a teen wood knot think twice.

  12. Thank you, Noel! No need to dwell, as you can tell,
    when the Lord decides to test our best attention “s-p-a-n”. 😉
    Take care, be good, and stay cool, my friend!

  25. Now, I have read your words. And now I see the credit for the photograph. As with the bridge, your words reflect my life. And then some. Fear doesn’t stop me. No. It pushes me to cross that darn bridge with my heart in my throat many a time, yet, each and every time, I arrive safely on the other side. I have learned not to look down but always UP. Thank you. Your words are extremely gifted. Love, Amy

  26. You are too kind, dear lady! 🙂 Thank you very much!
    I’m tickled pink to know you LIKE this, nimble one.
    Stay light on your feet, and I’ll see you on the other side,
    and then around the bend, and in the thick of the forest.

    Take care, be good, and stay cool, Amy! Peace, Keith

  27. My bridge leads me to one place. That of the Rainbow. And then down I slide into the ravine, crawling back up the sharpest of rocks only to cross that darn bridge again. 😉 Back to that Rainbow.

  28. Incapable of adding a profound observation or a sparkle of wit, I always enjoy your poetry. This one resonates.

  42. Hi Uncle Tree
    As a way of saying thanks for supporting me in 2013 by following and reading my writing blog, I’d like to nominate you for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award. This blog celebrates loyal readers, so please pass it on to yours.
    If you have a no-awards policy, then please accept this as my simple thanks for reading my blog!
    Please click below to read more about the award:-
    http://wp.me/p2ZHJe-YF
    Happy blogging!
    Sandra

  44. Keith, what happened to your beautiful post, the one about losing a child and how wonderfully you crafted the words into a cross? Oh, please don’t tell me you took it off. You created a Masterpiece and it was so soulfully created as well. Please, if you took it off, please put it back on. I came here to read it again. Love, Amy

  46. Keith, I came here for personal reasons to read your poem to unfold another petal regarding my 3 BeLoved children I lost because my body refused to carry full term. I do my grieving in private so I will just read it here, shed the tears that again do come, and speak to my babies who I haven’t thought of if a long time. Now that time has come (again).

  47. Blessed lady, I pray The Comforter spoke to your soul last night;
    the soft-spoken acknowledgement that brings redemption
    with just a light feathery touch from the tip of an angel’s wing ~

    “If trust is a tool, then faith is not folly,
    hope is not hopeless, and love –
    our only answer in a time of loss –
    remains the greatest of all.” — Uncle Tree

  51. The Comforter did speak last night. I had so many of my cats on my bed last night, I didn’t know where I was going to sleep. When this happens, I know they “sense” the presence of the Holy Spirit. I awoke this morning, sleepy, yet with a overall feeling of refreshing. Today the sun is shining and my gardens call to me. Thank you for the lovely words you wrote to me. Love truly is the answer to all our pains, all our hurts, all our sorrows. I do know that over time the pain subsides, yet, there are still times when the pain does float to the surface to be embraced, tears shed, and a deeper letting go happens. Bless you!!! This is one of the losses of my life I do not speak of too often. I am honored you witnessed another portion of my healing. (((HUGS))) Amy

  52. Kdyby Bůh chtěl aby jsme létali, dal by nám křídla, proto že je nemáme musíme překonat strach a spoléhat na Boží vůli?

  58. Uncle Tree, I am always looking for inspiration to write from… I intend to borrow your poem and pic as my opener and give proper credits and links for it. Give me a shout if it isn’t cool.

  60. You’re welcome. Today it happened to land squarely where I am on my path. I need to cross that bridge, not necessarily burn it, but overcome the fear and just keep moving. It’ll post in a couple of days. I try to stay ahead a little.

  62. Pingback: Moving On | All of Me

  63. Exactly! Once the realization sets in,
    so do the boards fill in the gaps ~ like magic.
    A little faith, just the size of a mustard seed;
    a little faith in your future self,
    and a bit of love is all you need;
    is all you need. Uncle Tree

  67. You can and will make it over safely, I believe. Once across,
    we must continue to take risks to find our limits and our niche.
    Time is on our side. No need to hurry. Best wishes to you! Uncle Tree

  68. http://irreducibleprimary.com/2014/05/17/just-answer-the-question/

    Rob’s final question: “Why do we need each other?”
    I liked my answer, lol, so I’m gonna save it here. Chime in?

    “We need each other in order to make our individual lives valuable.
    We need people in order to exercise our innate willingness to serve
    and entertain, and thus prop up our sense of self-importance.

    Self-esteem equals an experienced and esteemed soul.
    I see it as a sense of pride – the kind that lacks
    the slightest hint of arrogance.

    We need to have faith in each other, especially on the road.
    You stay on your side, and I’ll stay on mine, and we can
    easily pass each other, without either of us changing our beliefs.”

  69. Is it need or is it fact that we are each other and there is no other when we come to rest. We feel need because of what initially stands between us and that’s placenta. We commit to physicality, to umbilical and forget in that dreadful gasping for breath that the air is free, and that tongues of fire have been hog-tied. Lol, I don’t need this! I see.

  70. Speaking of piggies and placentas —
    my um-biblical cord has been cut,
    thus letting loose much useless hot air for free.

    “Give me liberty, or…” a bottle of spirits longing
    to be reincarnated in the bowels of Uncle Tree!

    Cain’t move on without ’em. 😉

  71. Dear Uncle Tree,

    Thank you for visiting my site. My visit here has completely changed my life. After 80 years on this earth, I have just discovered that nepotism is not a vice but a virtue of the highest order.

    Your grateful nephew,

    Royce

  77. http://lifeofafemalebiblewarrior.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/memorial-day-blessings/

    It’s a fine line to walk – the narrow way of pacifism;
    the path well-protected by the warring kind;
    the soldiers well-paid, well-fed, and well…broken down
    until they are no longer an individual —
    just another cell in a body of petri dishes doing battle.

    Where turning the other cheek gets you dead pretty quick.

    On another note:

    If we finally find peace of mind in Heaven, who’s gonna want to rest?
    The “meet and greet” sessions must be endless. My spirit moves…

  79. Yes, Uncle Tree’s been around these parts for awhile.
    But I tour the world, and get around pretty good for an
    old stick in the mud. 😉 Nice to meet you! Glad you liked!

    Thanks for visiting! Luvz and hugz, Uncle Tree

  81. Thanks for the addition Dr. Living Stones!
    Good to see you again…finally. 😉 Uncle Tree
    is better now. Thank you! D3 @1000, I will try.

  92. Hi! I nominated you for a Black Wolf Blogger award. Check out my latest post for the further instructions:) Your blog is great and you are very talented!
    Inese

  93. Thank you for mentioning me, Inese!
    Please, allow me to gracefully decline.
    I’m very glad you’ve liked what you’ve seen. 🙂
    I also appreciate the nice compliment.
    Have a great weekend! Cheerz, Keith

  96. Hello and thanks for the like. I like your bridge its so cool looking .Kind of reminds me of entering a haunted forest or something..

  101. This is such an encouraging poem. At times it is hard to move on but move on one must… 🙂

  104. You’re quite welcome, Candy! 🙂 Thank you for visiting Keith Watson
    @ Uncle Tree’s House! Peace and luvz from the Sure-Good Forest ~

  107. Great Poem. My grandfather owned a cabin and this very same kind of bridge was used to get from one side of the river to the other. It was an experience one never forgets. You captured the feelings exactly.

  108. Thank you very much, Tina! 🙂 Glad to hear this one clicked for you.
    That rickety old worn-out bridge to your grandpa’s cabin —
    kinda makes me wonder if it’s still hanging there today.

    Nice to meet you! Peace and luvz, Uncle Tree

  109. Well, a summer storm finally laid the death blow to the original swinging bridge but they have replaced it since then with another cable/board bridge that has a stronger resilience. It still swings but the fear/exhilaration of using the old rickety one is missing. However, I haven’t been to the cabin in couple of decades now so the old bridge is the one I remember. Siblings and cousins testing their mettle by enduring the bouncing and extra swinging caused by their less compassionate or outright devilish compatriots. Nice meeting you as well. I look forward to reading more of your work.

  110. Thanks for filling me in, Tina! I know exactly what you mean.
    Mean and rascally boys trying to scare girly girl cousins,
    well, it didn’t swing that much, but it was fun to give it a go.
    Our family reunions were in Weeping Water, Nebraska.
    When we were young, an old bridge crossed a big crick there.
    As youngish teens, we just crossed the newer bridge
    so we could take the dirt road and get away from all the old fogies. 😉

  111. Yes, that sounds about right. My granddad’s cabin was located in the northern clarion mountains of PA. The water was barely liquid due to it being snow melt.

  113. Dear Uncle Tree, I’ve suddenly become a supporter of nepotism, at least here. You have made me realise that the bridge is one of the vital symbols or metaphors of today. There certainly is plenty of troubled water isn’t there? Thank you so much.

  114. You’re welcome, Royce. I imagine, fallen trees were the first bridges.
    Human ingenuity has only been around for a hundred thousand years. 😉

    Are you familiar with the Grail stories? Regarding bridges —
    Percival was searching for the Grail Castle, which one could only come upon unawares. After receiving directions from a fairy, Percival found the river and came upon a glass bridge. Trouble was — it was only built halfway across the water. Knowing what he had to do, regardless of the difficulty, Percival encouraged his steed to get on the bridge and go. As he neared the edge, the bridge broke loose from the bank, spun around, and reached the other side, allowing the cross to be made.

    So, in order to go forward to the Land Of The Collective Unconscious,
    clearly, he had to backtrack over the same “ground” he’d already
    covered – (our pagan past).

  116. Oh…the boards! Uncle Tree…I am so happy to visit here this morning 🙂 I had an intense fear of bridges in real life…never really understood the symbolism of that until this moment!! I have faced many fears and I know that I would rather come from Love in all situations. But looking at your bridge I am reminded of the journey, especially the times I traversed the rickety bridge with faith and love….and made it safely to the other side! Thank you so much for showing yourself to me 🙂 Lorrie

  117. Exposing myself, yes. However risky, Lorrie. 😉 Nice to meet you!
    Ah-ha! A moment transpired here this morning. Thank you for confessing!

    If faith and love helps you stay focused and sure-footed,
    then I hope and wish you the best trip over all your future
    undertakings. 🙂 Peace, luvz, and hugz! Uncle Tree

  127. ‘If you stay put, you’ll get walked on.
    A mid-life crisis often leaves one feeling past their prime, as we say,
    but going back is not an option. There must yet be a way to “top” one’s, self, and continue to achieve, albeit, in a new and different manner.’ I like this…

  128. Thank you, good sir! 🙂 Yes, mid-life applies to
    me in this one, written a ways back in Time.

    Guessing the age of one’s “passing” is very tough
    to do. One hardly knows where the halfway point is.

    From golfer/bowler/jock to the place where poetry rocks
    in a tree, in his mind, on the screen, and through the ether.
    Welcome to my world in a forest of dreams. What may come?
    Best wishes to you, and thanks for commenting! Cheerz, UT

  129. Hi there,

    I’m sorry to bother you. I saw that you are following my blog. I really appreciate your support and viewership.

    I am writing to you for help, if you can. I posted “Forgiveness” yesterday. Today it seems the content is gone, and the post is blank.

    Since you liked it, I’m hoping I may be able to access the content somehow via you. Perhaps you have the post in an email, saved somewhere, have a tab open, a cached version, anything.

    Any help you could offer would be extremely appreciated.

    Thank you!!

  130. Gosh. I’m so sorry, Zoey. WordPress doesn’t give us a feature
    to help something like that. And, I am far from a techie.

    It was a good post. You can write it again. You can!
    With hindsight, you will be more concise and thoughtful.
    Been there, done that, girl. I believe in you. Cheerz, Uncle Tree 🙂

  131. Yes you can, Zoey. I know the feeling…wipe out! I’ve found, just get started and all will be revealed again…with a few relaxing breaths first 🙂

  134. Ha, the revered Grof and his’ holotropic breathwork.’….I had a ‘friend’ took a Grof course when Grof last came to UK.I declined the opportunity on the grounds that messing with breathing scares me….deep-seated trauma of whooping cough at age three when I could not breath…not sure that I really wanted to anyway, in a war-2-torn world, but Mum wasn’t letting me off the hook….OMG! My friend sang great praises of Grof, but I’ve never seen or heard of him since. We were part of a little group studying Vern Woolf’s holodynamics at the time. All went their way 😉

  135. I had an inkling I was indeterminate quite some time ago but I still haven’t made up my mind about that. If B is a feminine letter was breathing again a Blot on my copybook?

  136. Wow, bruv. Can’t remember you telling me about that cough.
    Glad to see you made it through long enough to end up here. 🙂
    A letter; a sideways view of boobs; B is feminine? LoL News to me.

    According to my notes, I read Stanislav Grof’s 1988 release,
    “The Adventure Of Self-Discovery” in January of 2005.
    After reading the above review, I wish I could go back in Time
    and read my horoscope for August 11, 2001, and a couple others.
    Truly interesting that they used the data to put forth a theory,
    but it’s good Science, and I will keep that in mind as I read.

    About Eugene Whitworth, I will say he got me out of my chair,
    and reminded me of my true physicality — my genetic make-up.
    On my 6-mile walks, which take right at 100 minutes,
    I focus my attention on the air in front of my nose,
    and count. 16 steps to each breath; 8 short snorts
    through the nose to fill my lungs completely, and then
    8 steps to release the air back out through the mouth.
    Up hills, I change that to a 4 and 4 count for a couple minutes.
    I do this until I get back home. It keeps my mind from wandering.
    This I did, 9 out of the 10 days of my vacation. Now, I trek only
    on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Still, it’s a good workout.
    Come winter, that routine will most likely change. No surprise.
    Getting “in shape” in hope of returning my lungs to a former condition.
    They don’t put walkers in Rest Homes. Do they? My point exactly.

  139. I’ve found a gem here …….. thanks for following me because I needed to find you ……… WOW

  141. The mystical bridge…I would love to twirl on this..let go of fear..:) Beautifully penned Uncle Tree! 😀

  142. On a mystical bridge such as this, I may have to cross
    it several times before I’ll come to trust it. Then only,
    will I give it a twirl. Even then, a life jacket might be wise.
    Why fear fear? If we remain conscious of our cautiousness?

    I don’t fear The Reaper. 😉 I don’t tempt him either.

    Glad you liked this, Zara. Thank you kindly!

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