Fountain At Night (194/365)

“– the main jet
Struggling aloft until it seems at rest

In the very act of rising, until
The very wish of water is reversed,
That heaviness borne up to burst
In a clear, high, cavorting head, to fill

With blaze, and then in gauze
Delays, in a gnatlike shimmering, in a fine
Illumined version of itself, decline,
And patter on the stones its own applause?”

(Richard Wilbur (b. 1921), U.S. poet. A Baroque Wall-Fountain in the Villa Sciarra (l. 31-40). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.)

TIME:  10:16 PM
PLACE:  Downtown
SUBJECT: Fountain

My Dad’s maternal side of the family is planning a reunion for this October and I am involved with the planning.  Tonight I had a meeting at a 2nd cousin’s home on the other side of town.  We decided on the food (it’s being catered) and I got to hear more family stories, so I really enjoyed the evening.  I brought a descendent chart for everyone to review and to make any corrections to their family lines for my genealogical records.  I’m planning on creating a gigantic descendent box chart beginning with Dad’s maternal grandparents to hang on the wall at the reunion, along with a compressed chart for everyone to take home.     

This fountain is in the middle of our town’s square by the courthouse.  Originally built in 1937, it is a memorial to American servicemen.