The Piers of Stone                 A poem about the piers at Lake View Iowa

O long we've known
The piers of stone...                                    

From the shore about
We see them, projecting out
    Into the water of the lake,                        
Where one may take,
    A stroll, sit or stand,
    A little out from land...    
 
   Here cast an eye
      To farther shore;
   Or cast close by,
      The lake before...

With water lapping the ear
And wildfowl quacking near,
One standing or sitting here,        Erin Riedell standing on one pier with the second one behind her.
    May thought create,           
    Enjoy and appreciate
    The views of lake and shore                            
    And the hues of sky up o'er...          

See widening rings,                         
  The circles of surface broken,           
Or reflected things                        
  That the surface does betoken.

Behold the sky,                                  
  Dropped into the lake;
Fallen from high,
  The waters to partake.

See a moon,
  A shining moon,
At dance in liquid motion,
  Like coin there strewn
Or melted doubloon,                            
  A treasure of lake not ocean...     

Upon these piers of stone
  Are little tapering towers,
Whose lamps atop have shone,
  To illumine darkened hours...
Beacons of light
  In the watches of night...

Indenting the western bay,
  These structures out from shore,
Were the work of  the W P A              
  And the Conservation Corps.                                                                                    

These piers of rock recall                 
  Nature's bouldered wall,
That once did border the lake:
  A wall that ice did make...

The water at the bottom froze
  And captured rock upon the bed;
Round the rock the ice did close,
  And expanding,
                 moved the rock ahead...    
                                               
It muscled boulders forward,                 
  Toward the edge and shoreward...         
It piled them up into a wall,
  In places, up to six feet tall...

These piers remind of what had been;
The stones that once, the lake were in...

O long may they stand,
   These projecting  piers...
Beyond the bound of land,
  Beyond the bound of years...    

                                         —John Riedell

West pier from two angles

   Plaque mounted on a Sioux quartzite boulder, certifying the historic registry for The Stone Piers and Lakeside Park.  At one time the large boulder served as a base for a flagpole.

Copyright © 2005 - John Riedell - All Rights Reserved
Site Last Updated on 10/03/09