Julie Cadwallader-Staub: "Midlife"

This is as far as the light
of my understanding
has carried me:
an October morning
a canoe built by hand
a quiet current

above me the trees arc
green and golden
against a cloudy sky

below me the river responds
with perfect reflection
a hundred feet deep
a hundred feet high.

To take a cup of this river
to drink its purple and gray
its golden and green

to see
a bend in the river up ahead
and still
say
yes.

"Midlife" by Julie Cadwallader-Staub. © Julie Cadwallader-Staub.

Photography credit: Detail from "Meltausjoki Canoe Trail, Finland," by Michael van Vliet (originally color).