Final Journey

~ Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back — joyfully. ~


Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Dream Falls” by: rob kistner © 11/14/23

 
My back is bent deep
from life’s heavy load
my mind stumbles troubled
by all these forks in my road

my brow is fevered
I can’t find my mellow
I miss the aspen meadows
of crisp golden yellows

should you encounter me
wandering lost as a fawn
my countenance brittle
withered and drawn

know that my soul seeks
the song of the waters
my aching heart needs
be soothed in their arms

so deliver me to snow-melt
to high-mountain waters
sweep me swiftly away
in their crystal blue streams

tumble me joyishly laughing
in their rolling white rapids
then over a waterfall
grand as my dreams

splash me into the current
flow me past western red cedar
my body is ready
my spirit is eager

I will miss you my loves
but no tearful goodbyes
it’s your love I’ll remember
as I’m closing my eyes

so when I’ve grow weary
the final wish that I make
let my ashes ever join
with a deep mountain lake


Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Deep Peace”
by: rob kistner © 11/14/23

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rob kistner © 2023

Poetry at: d’verse

Poetry at: WGO

Poetry at: Poets & Storytellers
 

44 thoughts on “Final Journey”

    1. Thank you my friend. This was not a morose take. We all will go, this is me expressing my greatest wish that my final journey be one of exhilaration and joy, back united with nature — which my failing health has robbed from me these recent years… and which I miss profoundly… 🙂

      Reply

  3. A powerful poem about getting old, Rob, and not an avocado to be seen! I love how you included the prompt words. The lines that stand out for me:
    ‘my brow is fevered
    I can’t find my mellow
    I miss the aspen meadows
    of crisp golden yellows’.

    Reply

    1. I am a terrible cook Kim, so I went with something I know — nature… 🙂 … I did manage to include red, yellow, white and fork, so I got a few of your words in my friend… 😉

      Reply

  7. This is so lovely, Rob. I can feel the call of the aspen meadows and the song of the waters…….lovely imagery, wonderful rhyming. I really enjoyed this. It sings of the Pacific Northwest.

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  13. This seems a perfect poem (if there is one), you speak of the final journey, and yet, your poem is full of life. Home in the mountains. I have read people are happiest when they live in the mountains or by the sea, and I think each would suit you. Thanks for your poem. Somethings I Think About – annell

    Reply

    1. Thank you Annell. Thats is why I loved living for a quarter century in Oregon. You got mountains; old growth ancient forests; the Pacific Ocean; 363 miles of one of the most beautiful rugged coastlines in the world; 30,000 square miles of the amazing Oregon High Desert; the stunning multicolored painted desert, breathtaking canyons and gorges, including the 85-mile-long Columbia Gorge, the 150 mile by 60 mile Willamette Valley, which is some of the most most fertile land in the world, white water rivers, pristine lakes everywhere including mind-blowing Crater Lake, and so so many incredible waterfalls — it is paradise on earth.

      Reply

  15. Let the good times roll. Goodbye.
    I would have liked to listened to you read.
    But I have had troubles and could never
    get signed on for just listening.
    ..

    Reply

  16. Yes, a mountain lake sounds lovely… I can see that the prompt didn’t exactly pull light and happy memories .. however no one and certainly not I would deign to criticize such an well-penned beautifully expressed bouquet of image and emotion.

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    1. addendum on second reading…

      I am a dumkopff .. this poem is a glorious ode to life and an exquisite accepting embrace of a return to the nature you so achingly love. Yes, as others have said we are all on a journey with the same destination and yet, and yet… all the journeys are so vastly different .. and you blessed sir … have mapped out a future path that shimmers with love and beauty… all waiting for you to return. I love this poem and your vision is inspiring and comforting, soothing and exciting for the possibilities that await. A brilliant write!

      Reply

      1. Thank you for giving it a 2nd read Pearl. I am so pleased you found your way to the joy with which I wrote this piece. This was an ecstatic release of my life energy into the natural world… 🙂

        Reply

  17. “my soul seeks
    the song of the waters
    my aching heart needs
    be soothed in their arms”
    How the tone changes here, from longing to joy. Water flows and all feels refreshed. That last stanza is a masterpiece. I paused here for the music, too. I think we are both more aware that we are only here for a while, and must must relax into the journey.

    Reply

    1. Much prefer wilderness to human constructs. Nature brings me to tears sometimes. Makes me feel the awesomeness of the world, of the universe — the true magic of the miracle of existence. It is how I feel my spirituality, because personally, I do not buy the religious thing. Religion diminishes the true power of the wondrous. We humans will never understand it, so why pretend we do. Just stand in the mystery, and be amazed.

      Reply

  21. A mountain lake sounds splendid to me. This whole poem sounded as if it could be set to music. Gorgeous writing, Rob.

    Reply

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