Rivers

She is the one Who first loved me enough To show me I could be A better man than I was   And you can imagine How that worked out... Can a man with an inner-tube And a cooler full of beers Turn a stagnant pond Into a mighty river Just by jumping in?   And yet… She is the one Who continued to love me enough To try to chip away To grind and...

The dust of our bodies Remain fixed to the canyon walls Our skin stretches over boulder And gully alike On opposite sides Of the mighty river Too swollen now to swim   One river canyon Yet happily divided Tending the gardens we’ve planted Each on our own riverbank The rushing river sinks deep And saturates the earth And waters the beds That we weed today And harvest for the feast That we’re preparing For tomorrow...

It’s true, she loves the river And its steady constant force The ocean is just leftovers And she prefers the source   She leads me through the briars Stinging nettle, oak, and sorrow Some pain for the present moment But the rest we’ll save for tomorrow   The path is narrow and overgrown If it’s even a path at all Two roads diverged and we took neither She heard the river’s call   Down the...

There was a song my father sang Not really a song at all Just a rhythm of syllables Rising and falling With every step And a pause with Every breath   There were never any words Neither for the song itself Nor for the way It brings me home   It would often be sung Out in the wilderness Surrounded by wonders Sometimes emerging From an ice cold pool Formed by a beaver dam In...

Look out of any window… Dividing the morning And the evening And the day into thirds   What’s a window but a box for the sky? And what’s the sky but a box full of birds? And what’s a bird but a box for our dreams? And what’s a dream but a box full of words?   And what’s a word but a box full of meaning? And what does it mean to be a...

Go on without me Sweet child Earth’s flower Go on without me I’ll see you no more Hold fast to this hillside Roots deep in the wind In the distance I’ll perish Deep in the sand On the opposite shore So don’t wait for me Go on Go on It’s time to set out Your life springs eternal There is nothing here To get mad about If there’s nothing here If there’s nothing more Worth...