Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Three word Wednesday, 72

Today's words are posted here at 3WW, a site where you can comment and invite others to read your offering, which can be an essay, poem, song, etc. Today's words are
    Bridge
    Disturbed
    Still

Photo by Nea, a disappeared blogger

The Hardin Bridge on a summer day, not disturbed by talk of modern weight limits, stands quietly over the still Etowah River in north Georgia, a monument to a time when life was not so hurried, friends were forever, and passers-by weren't scrambling for more stuff. Best not to linger. Sometimes the river is swollen and angry, and if you look closer, you see the guard rails have been battered by drunk drivers at night unable to stay the course. Pause and you might think you hear voices, young lovers from the Great Depression or a soldier on leave before Korea or Vietnam, and then only silence. Even in the symmetry, you begin to see the irregularities--crooked tree branches building an arch over the steel trusses, wavering shadows, a cluster of leaves across a line that attempted infinity, and clouds breaking up a clear blue sky. Move along. Don't long for the past here.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely classic old bridge. Undisturbed by modern times and technology. Lovely post!!

Anonymous said...

I liked the esaay on it. You took me right there!

Introducing myself

Truefaith1963 said...

Lovely haunting piece Norma.
I sense you work in the Industry of the Past - I used to be an Archaeologist a long time ago, and empathize with these feelings about places and objects having memories..

Anonymous said...

I love bridges myself, and yet I couldnt write a piece on it myself today, but you did so beautifully well. I enjoyed your piece immensely, thank you.

TC said...

This was beautiful, Norma. Really makes me want to go see the bridge now :)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photo...one that takes us back to another place and time as does your words.

S

Anonymous said...

Ohh..... this makes me long to head home to Georgia. :) I wonder how near I've been to that bridge - I remember field trips to the Etowah Indian Mounds as a kid, and I went to summer camp in north Georgia for years. What a wonderful meditation on a lovely, lonely vestige of the past!

Tumblewords: said...

Ah, gorgeous photo and words that match! Wonderful!

PJD said...

This is beautifully written, though I wish you'd stopped at "clear, blue sky."

Anonymous said...

Loved the "best not to linger..." just as I was thinking how beautiful, and serene it was

Anonymous said...

I love photos of bridges. This one is especially interesting. Your essay could have stopped at "blue skies", as someone suggested, but I would have missed what I felt was the "reveal".

little wing writer said...

beautiful... i can hear the quiet voices as one passes and looks back ...

Bone said...

Loved the ending, even though I didn't want to move alone.

Beautiful bridge. Thank you for sharing.