Harmonica Humdrums

Maurice Sapiro, "Gold on the Water"

Harmonica Humdrums

And so the days pass

and so we drift and dawdle.

Bright stood the mountains,

brighter loomed the sea.

And so the nights go on

and so we flash and fade.

Green lay the hills,

greener a river evening.

Stones wore gray lichen

and trees a moon mist.

And so the gold be gone.

And so the harm be ashes.

First moved the the moonrise.

Later dropped the moondown.

Handy shoved the dawn.

Handydandy shone the sun.

Carl Sandburg

"And so we flash and fade..." that phrase calls up so many things - "Our days on earth are like grass, like wildflowers we bloom and die." Psalm 103: 17. And Sandburg is a master of mood-setting, layer on layer he sets it down, like a painter. Colour repetition: green, gray, gold - word repetition: "And so", "And so", "And so". It's a strange half-sad, half-optimistic poem. Sandburg is like that, confident, ebullient, yet somehow haunting. That, "And so the gold be gone. And so the harm be ashes." strikes me as regretful but strong and optimistic -things are changing, time is passing, and the bad in it as well. I find that a comforting thought.