down by the river

It was so quiet... noone else was there until one young man came to sit and listen to the sounds of nature for while, too. The air held the scents of the river life as it waifed by... like a gentle, ever so slightly cool breath, on this warm June night. There were the cries of laughter and rollicking on Esopus Island in the distance (with people looking like little dots on the shoreline rocks there) and the sound of the trains in the distance among the mountains on the west side of the river, and rushing past on the shoreline not far from where I sat, once or twice, looking like black dragons breathing white fire. There was a dog barking somewhere along the river... a cruiser speeding down river to port before dark, and the slowly meandering party boat with its laughter and music on the west side of the river. The whooperwills, meadowlarks, herons, ducks and geese were getting ready to sleep. The treefrogs, an owl, and crickets were waking up for the night. A few BIG fish lept out of the gently lapping water, and the nearby environmental PILOT boat banged against the dock now and then... The river so long and wide. The sky so wide and filled with billowy clouds with an occassional airplane dancing through them... THIS was MY Saturday night... as quiet and peaceful as ALL Hyde Park was when I was a little kid. Down by the river is like being sent back into gentler times... As it says in WIND IN THE WILLOWS... the river: always changing, yet always the same ... HEAVEN on EARTH