In the Eyes of Others - Sept 17 2023

 

In the Eyes of Others

Sept 17 2023

It's said the river is alive.

Which is true

if you accept the belief

that we only exist

in the eyes of others.

I see the river giving life.

I see it move, change

mirror the mood

of the world it travels through;

the land, flora, weather.

I see its constancy,

as generation

succeeds generation

in our brief human lives.

My descendants

standing where I once stood,

among the trees

that crowd its banks

in a rainbow of cool spray.

If I look carefully

I can see a pulse,

as if there was a beating heart

somewhere upstream.

I see its power.

But even though water

can move great rocks,

steadily, incrementally

wear them to sand,

I also see its frailty.

The river

that was here before man

now contending

with drought

dam

flood,

the poisoned wasted

we heedlessly dump.

But for now, unstoppably, the water runs.

Over waterfalls.

Around fallen trees and polished rocks.

Through steep-sided narrows.

Flowing to some distant sea

as if called,

seeking the lowest level

with such determination and ferocity

I begin to see

its iron will.