water poems

Oil Paintings of Florida

By John Sterpe

Then we will Know

By John Sterpe 2008

When the towering cypress trees fall down into the clean blue waters

When the storm clouds swept away those last few rain drops

When the songs of the great horned owls turn still

When the turtles no longer slide down into the clear water

and the wake of the foam in the twilight no longer shape the sounds of our wandering river.

Then we will know

Into the deep blue shadows and down the rocky shoals,

Then we will know

We turn to a place, the land that warned us, the waters that taught us,

Long ago, Long ago

Together, we stay strong, in a long lost wandering world.

Yet still, when the towering cypress trees fell down into the clear blue waters

When that storm cloud swept away those last few rain drops and no longer formed the twilight,

no longer shaped the sound of our wandering river.

Then, we will know