I Love The Art In Stone

  I Love Art In Stone

I love the art in stone as shown, less these days,
When hung framed on walls of homes, in ways,
Absent of a stone mason's style of art, he displays,
With hammer and chisel his love of stone, he plays .    

Gathering in fresh farm springs
Country creeks flow downstream
Eroding outcroppings of hard rock
Strata used as wagon crossings
Later becoming bridge locations .
Near these, built at creekside,
Stone walls rise four stories tall,
Deep window sills mark each floor,
At the peak a hoist beam extends .
Below is an arched stone mill race,
Where channeled swift water turns 
A huge drive wheel that transfers
Power by wide leather belts up to
The grinding floor where grain is 
Fed between a flat stone face and
Another stone face that is turning .

Flour feeds an early struggling Nation .
Cut stone seeks the past's artful relation . 

Mills, Roller Mills, needed Feed Mills
Still stand tall, their art's in place,
Family named, strong, silent, the walls.
Their need is gone, now long forgotten .

You. - cameras ,     You  - pencils,
You. - water colors ,You - oil pigments,
You. - Have you , captured their souls ?

I love the art in stones when built as walls.

  Ronald C . Downie

Spring's coming in a few weeks and a Sunday drive is in order. Drive north following the Manatawny Creek by roads that border it and from time to time cross the creek. At these crossings you'll often find old roller/feed mills standing strong these past hundreds of years.There you'll experience The Art In Stone as I have, but also, often the bridge you cross will be a covered one, a product of bridge building artists long gone. Spring's coming soon!