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Show 252 MADELYN CANNON STEWART SILVER still at the ranch and is often used by Madelyn's granddaughter Madelyn, daughter of Barnard and Cherry Silver.) III Harold's preoccupation with Silver Steel, along with Silver Engineering, meant that he was not often present for a part of Madelyn's daily life or thoughts. But Madelyn's "fury and hurt" was lessened by her own satisfying intellectual and social activ her of her ities, children, and Harold's many kind enjoyment nesses.' The poem that perhaps represented her "mature" view of life, and in fact was used for the front page of her funeral pro gram, is a paean to "growth," that she wrote during the 1950s and gave to her Jane Herrick Club. In a ballad stanza she draws on the mountain setting she loved most. The river is symbolic of human personality, its surfaces and its depths. GROWTH At last I know how the river feels In the quiet pools and deep Calm on the surface and crystal smooth, Where the tired shadows sleep. But deeply turbulent over the stones, The hard, cold rocks below, The water sobs and aches and groans With the pain of its onward flow. Above, the sorrows are harmonized Into ripples cool and slow, With only a halting, muffle throb From the agony below. And now I know how the river feels, In its placid pools and deep Calm on the surface and brightly smooth Where shrouded shadows sleep. The poem contrasts the appearance of the river, "calm on the surface and crystal smooth," with the turbulence and pain of its |
