On Sunday night hundreds of people gathered near Weeks footbridge on the banks of the Charles River for the 9th annual Revels RiverSing celebration. Filled with music, poetry, and communal singing, this celebration of the fall equinox waved goodbye to summer and ushered in a new and spirited fall season. The poem below was inspired by the upbeat melodies and soaring voices of RiverSing; it is composed entirely from poetic lines and lyrics that emerged throughout the event.

Now I Walk in Beauty

I stretch my green ribbon over

seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

I cry over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.

Rock me, Lord, rock me, Lord, calm and easy.

I was born in the path of the winter wind

blowing sparkling sands of diamond deserts.

Who shall wear the starry crown?

Good Lord, show me the way.

Noah built the ark outa hickory bark.

This old world's gonna reel and rock.

I ain't gonna study war no more.

This train is bound for glory.

When the shadows of this life have grown,

sing to her history, sing to her timelessness.

Ever moving, and winding and free

like Jordan's river, deep and wide.