Wednesday, October 21, 2015

THE BRIDGE, PART II


A local news item this morning informed us that the removal of the Canandaigua Road bridge will be finalized today.  Sections of the bridge will be placed on a barge and floated away on the Erie Canal.

Nettie Bullis was 21 when this bridge was opened to horse-drawn and pedestrian traffic, and her brother Charlie was 23.  We can imagine both of them watching the construction and  marveling at the completed structure. If she were present at today's final removal, we imagine that Nettie might discreetly wipe a tear or two from her eyes and then look forward to the construction of the new, safer bridge.

Here's the rest of Longfellow's poem. Enjoy!

The Bridge
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

How often, O, how often
In the days that had gone by
I had stood on the bridge at midnight
And gaped on that wave and sky.

How often,  O, how often
I had wished that the ebbing tide
Would bear me away on its bosom
O’er the ocean wild and wide.

For my heart was hot and restless,
And my life was full of care,
And the burden laid upon me
Seemed greater than I could bear.

But now it has fallen from me
It is buried in the sea.
And only the sorrow of others
Throws its shadow over me.

Yet whenever I cross the river
On its bridge with wooden piers,
Like the odor of brine from the ocean
Comes the thoughts of other years.

And I think how many thousands
Of care-encumbered men
Each bearing his burden of sorrow
Have crossed the bridge since then.

I see the long procession
Still passing to and fro,
The young heart hot and restless
And the old subdued and slow.

And forever and forever,
As long as the river flows
As long as the heart has passion
As long as life has woes;

The moon and its broken reflection
And its shadows shall appear
As the symbols of love in heaven
And its wavering images here.



No comments: