Rock Springs, Apopka, FL; image from Pinterest
spring of my youth
where rocks stay
lodged for endless ages
and I rushed around
them in my haste to
run, jump, hurdle
myself into the
flesh-freezing waters
that refreshed my
body with soul-baring
joy to revisit
the horizon was brought
up short by the thick,
forested trees that
surrounded and kept
partially hidden that
crystal clear pool
that burbled endlessly
up from the depths
of a magical, carved
out cave of underwater rock
it frightened me
to push my face
below the surface and
gaze down, down into
that deepness where
boulders had rolled
and shifted and created
the perfect home for
that purity to come forth
charming though were
the shallow paths
of water mostly ankle
deep that meandered
through the woods,
then to stop and excavate
miniature springs and
extract treasures of tiny
shells and sharks’ teeth
from countless eons ago
darkness descends on this
sweet paradise and the
shouts and laughter
of children fall silent
as the wood-burning grill’s
embers slowly weaken and
the colors echo the sunset
Please join me Thursday at 3PM as I host Open Link Night at dVerse Poets Pub. Choose any one of your poems to share.
Bodhirose's Blog 
lillian
/ July 27, 2017Oh this is so lovely….you’ve taken me here and I find it so refreshing! 🙂 There is something oh so wonderful about living out of doors, if even for a few days. To savor the coolness and mystery of the waters with their eddies and rocks strewn about and then to savor the campfire in the evening. Beautifully writ!
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Thank you, Lillian. This place (in the city where my parents met) holds so many wonderful memories for me as a child. My children also were able to enjoy this pristine spring when growing up. Times with cousins and grandparents are treasured.
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Betty Hayes Albright
/ July 27, 2017I must agree with Lillian – a most refreshing poem. Lovely writing, Gayle. 🙂
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Thank you, Betty…very kind of you. My thoughts turn to you and your recent loss and I’m hoping some tiny amount of relief and comfort has found its way to you. With Metta… ❤
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Betty Hayes Albright
/ July 30, 2017Gayle, thank you, I appreciate your kind words very much.
💛
🙏 With Metta
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Bodhirose
/ July 31, 2017❤
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Victoria C. Slotto
/ July 27, 2017Such a cool, refreshing break at noon on a hot day for me. Brought to mind memories of similar moments in mountains streams and a scolding from a forest ranger for walking barefoot through a rattlesnake-infested field to get to that place of refreshment.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017I’m glad it could refresh you in some way, Victoria…yes, so hot here too. Yikes on the rattlesnake-infested field…the things we do in our youth and somehow manage to survive all kinds of dangers.
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thotpurge
/ July 27, 2017A beautiful description..especially of looking below the water surface…
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Thanks so much…it really did freak me out to look down there!
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Jane Dougherty
/ July 27, 2017Water and woodland, a picture in greens, really lovely verse.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017A lovely combination that water and woodland…thank you, Jane.
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Jane Dougherty
/ July 30, 2017🙂
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jillys2016
/ July 27, 2017The emotions come through as clear as the spring waters – thank you for sharing this!
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017That enthusiasm of arriving there and being able to run down to that water was thrilling. We kids couldn’t wait to get there! And thank you for your nice comment, Jilly.
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Sue Vincent
/ July 27, 2017Though very different from the landscape of my own childhood, you evoke the same emotions here as memory.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Children find fun in all kinds of landscapes don’t they? Thank you, Sue.
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Sue Vincent
/ July 30, 2017It doesn’t take much to make life an adventure for a child 🙂
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017Very true. ☺
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kim881
/ July 27, 2017Both poem and image are so calming. What a place to sit, meditate and write. You were so longer to spend your youth near such a place.I especially enjoyed:
‘the horizon was brought
up short by the thick
forested trees that
surrounded and kept
partially hidden that
crystal clear pool
that burbled endlessly…’
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017It would be lovely to sit, meditate and write there now, on a day when it is almost empty. During the summer weekends it would sometimes be closed to further visitors as it would be jam-packed with people. I’m glad you liked this, Kim…thank you.
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whippetwisdom
/ July 27, 2017What a magical place for a child to be, beautifully written Gayle :o) xxx
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Yes, it was, Xenia…thanks so much. xo 🙂
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Anonymous
/ July 27, 2017Lovely. Nice description of the spring and stream. I should get my butt up there again soon.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Thank you. And if you go, take me with you!
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Magaly Guerrero
/ July 27, 2017Oh, you took me back home, to the Dominican Republic. As your speaker “haste(s) to
run, jump, hurdle”, I see child me rushing for a rope that hangs from a tree, my entire self full of laughter, ready to grab, push, swing and drop into the welcoming water. Thank you for the memory.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Oh, so glad I could evoke a memory for you, Magaly. Yours sounds equally as fun and exciting as mine.
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charliezero1.wordpress.com
/ July 27, 2017I picture myself in this beautiful description of outdoors and enjoying the refreshing moments of water, trees, & life. 🙂
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017You would have loved it as I did, Charlie. 🙂
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charliezero1.wordpress.com
/ July 30, 2017🙂 Happiness is so wonderful. 🙂
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petrujviljoen
/ July 27, 2017Pity things can’t stay the same sometimes!
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017That place is still there…still being enjoyed by countless children and families just like mine did so long ago.
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petrujviljoen
/ July 30, 2017Oh! That means I misread your poem! I’ll go back and read again. Thank heavens the place is still there.
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017Just sharing my girlhood memories. It’s still a special and beautiful place, Petru.
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petrujviljoen
/ July 31, 2017🙂
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Frank Hubeny
/ July 27, 2017Nice description of the rock springs. I haven’t seen them, but one day I would like to.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Knowing you like to hike, Frank, you would enjoy the paths and boardwalks through the woods and then when you got too warm you could jump in that cold, clear water…aaahhh. 🙂
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Sanaa Rizvi
/ July 27, 2017The emotions portrayed here are as pure as spring waters!💖 Especially like; “the horizon was brought up short by the thick forested trees that surrounded and kept partially hidden that crystal clear pool that burbled endlessly up from the depths of a magical, carved out cave of underwater rock.” Beautifully penned.💖
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017I always feel good when I can share my emotions clearly. Thank you, Sanaa.
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Renee Espriu
/ July 27, 2017Beautifully written my friend. What an enchanting place.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Thank you, Renee…yes, a truly enchanting place.
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Glenn Buttkus
/ July 27, 2017You given us an exquisite sense of place–and I was very comfortable there. I did however, it being in Florida, spend some time looking out for water moccasins & gater eggs
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017I’m glad that my description showed you a good picture of that place, Glenn. All the times that I swam there…even as an adult, I only spotted one snake swimming in the grasses along the stream that I was in. I didn’t bother it and it didn’t bother me. The alligators stay well upstream away from all the commotion that humans create. They like their peace. You can spot them on the bank if you take a canoe out. I’ve never been bothered by them either.
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Lafemmeroar
/ July 27, 2017Nicely done!
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Thank you, Laf!
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superwifeandmummy
/ July 27, 2017Beautiful and nostalgic
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Many thanks.
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Beverly Crawford
/ July 27, 2017What an Eden you’ve brought us! Cool and magical. Thank you!
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017That place is like an Eden! And thank you, Beverly.
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Ayala
/ July 27, 2017A lovely and magical poem.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Oh, thank you, Ayala. 🙂
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paul scribbles
/ July 28, 2017The poem itself is a spring of beauty and nostalgia that trickles its way into our consciousness. Bubbling, blissful, brilliant.
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017So very generous of you, Paul…I really appreciate your kind words.
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Colin Lee
/ July 28, 2017What a refreshing plunge!
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017So happy about that!
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MarinaSofia
/ July 28, 2017One of my favourite kinds of summers – very, very evocative!
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017Nothing like happy, happy childhood memories, right Marina?
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annell4
/ July 28, 2017A touching poem, perhaps the “end of summer?”
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017Maybe so, Annell…thank you.
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nosaintaugustine
/ July 28, 2017I love this close-up view of the childhood spring that was so dear to you. It is always captivating when a writer knows a place as well as they know themselves. You bring us not just up to the water but into it and we are able to meld with it as you have. Lovely!
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017What a generous comment, thank you. I feel grateful that I was able to convey my feelings for that place to you.
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Gospel Isosceles
/ July 28, 2017Lovely. I can relate to being afraid of looking into the depths to see the origins of the beauty.
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt that way…it seemed so deep down there to me as a kid. Thank you, Amaya.
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kaykuala (@hankkaykuala)
/ July 29, 2017Such beautiful thoughts of nature’s blessings. The forest from afar is so much neutral but to be in the woods is heavenly and peaceful!
Hank
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017Yes, a blessing to be there…that beautiful nature was such a gift. Thanks, Hank.
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Steve King
/ July 29, 2017For me, the center of the poem (literally and figuratively) is the section about the clear, magical pool, rarely glimpsed and not easily experienced in its entirety. I can see this poem as a metaphor for the creative process: there is indeed a deep hidden spring from which creations are drawn in some mysterious fashion to flow forth and cover the world, or at least our part of it. I found this very interesting. A good idea that was well executed.
Steve K.
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Bodhirose
/ July 30, 2017Well, thank you very much for your thoughtful comment, Steve. You took it deeper than I did but I do sure see the metaphor from which creation is “sprung.”
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speak766
/ July 29, 2017Beautiful! Lovely use of imagery. Looking forward to reading more of your poems!
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Thank you so much! I’m very happy that you liked this and I saw that you read others of my writings as well, I so appreciate that. Gayle ~
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Imelda
/ July 29, 2017Hi, Gayle. My mind is woozy (Oftentimes, it is). I will return when I can think clearly. 🙂
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Bodhirose
/ July 29, 2017Dear Imelda, please don’t trouble yourself about visiting if you’re not well. I hope you feel better very soon! ❤ xo
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Imelda
/ August 1, 2017You showed us a magical place and an even more magical childhood here, Gayle. 😊👍💛
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Bodhirose
/ August 2, 2017Hi Imelda…hope you are feeling less woozy today. Thank you for your comment…yes, such a special place in my childhood memory. ❤ xo
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Imelda
/ August 2, 2017I can see why it’s special.
Thank you, I am ok, reading popagainsts again after a looooong trip.
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I write therefore I am alive.
/ August 2, 2017Stunning imagery
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Bodhirose
/ August 2, 2017Thank you very much…I appreciate that.
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jeffreydhairston
/ August 10, 2017Thank you for your comment…yes, such a special place in my childhood memory.
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Steve Gravely
/ September 4, 2017Your poetry evolves, I like it.
I have a request, Gayle. On watching the movie “A Quiet Passion”,I was unable to separate the director’s story from the actress (Cynthia Nixon) from the poet Emily Dickinson. If you find the time, will you watch the movie & give us “borderland poets” a glimpse into what you find?
Thanks for your work & play!
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Bodhirose
/ September 4, 2017Well, what a surprise to find this comment from you today, Steve. Thank you for the compliment but the evolution of my poetry has come to almost a halt lately. I will sure give my thoughts about that movie even though I’m no expert on Emily Dickinson and her work…just sayin’.
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charlesdoliver
/ October 5, 2017thank you for your commentary…yes, such(a) a particular(a) space in my puerility store.
thank you, I am ok, reading popagainsts again after a looooong stumble.
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