September 15, 2021

R is for River

 (c) 2005

A river is any fresh water stream

whose path was not drawn on a blueprint—

not in the shops of carpenters

or leatherworkers.

 

Developers would pull the river taut.

 

A river empties into another—

into lake or ocean.

It shapes cliffs, beaches, villages.

 

A river is never river alone.

 

Trout breaking surface

suggest hymns.

The acoustics of stones

mirror the current.

 

A river go underground.

When it returns,

it carries the weight of earth.

 

As the river ages,

it expands the valley

giving all of us a place to sit.