I took a walk out on the Hudson River
today to see Lady Liberty close up. Use to be I'd see her with Jack,
walking in the summer sunshine along Battery Park Greenway, stopping
by the railing, counting the helicopters, deafening as they pass over
our craned heads. There's a red one! No no orange, gramma!
Today though, the Hudson is frozen and
ice from the glaciers up north have almost completely covered her up
to her head. It is interesting to be standing in the middle of the
river, a view I had only seen at times sailing, or from a ferry, or
wait, once from a cruise ship to Bermuda. That was so long ago. The
ice has risen to cover her mouth and part of her nose..... Only her
eyes and pointy crown peek out. Her right hand and torch are fully
visible, always lighting the way to freedom, even though there are no
longer any ships coming through the harbor.
Some are showshoeing across to New
Jersey, some are pulling children on sleds, some like me are just
walking out to get a close look, then look back to Manhattan, also
frozen and forbidding. The ice has risen to cover at least a dozen
stories of the tallest buildings, long abandoned as water rose over
the island and ice formed. Though my children and grandchildren have
moved to higher country, I spend lots of day hiking the ice floes as
though an explorer on the great glaciers of North America. Living in
the hills of Riverdale, some of us have thus far escaped the rising
water and ice. Soon though, I'll be heading to the mountains as well
as most from our fair city. But not before spring and summer arrive.
I still have hope the great melting will begin.
