The Heart of It

View of the Hudson River Valley from Olana by Frederick Church (1867)

A north-bound train passes Olana
before depositing me in Hudson.  
You cannot see Mom’s house from Olana.

Mom’s in the hospital uphill from the
station.  She’ll be 99 years old soon.
I accept aging and death, but my Mom

is not giving in to them.  We watch her
work to regain strength, but the hospital
doesn’t help.  We must bring her home.

We will tomorrow.  Now I’m on the hill
of Olana.  She could heal here, I think,
drinking air amid fields of grass between

walls of trees down Olana’s south side to
the beauteous Hudson River which curves
just as Frederick Church painted it decades

ago.  A few of the trees he saw then
are still here now, taller, grown old, wizened,
yet here. I wonder if he’d paint them now?

Would they fit his forever youthful view
of ancient countryside, river bends, and
light? His paintings capture the beating heart.

 

 

Olana

Written Monday, 22 May 2023

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2023 Susan L. Chast