Song of the River

[Stamp Falls, the narrows]

For Open Link Monday at Real Toads, I decided to re-post this oldie, one of the first I posted on my blog. Stamp Falls is my favorite spot in Port, because it is the wildest. I have walked there so many times through the years. Beyond the narrows, the river opens in full flood with a steep incline that salmon have to leap, against the power of the down-river-traveling water, during the autumnal spawning migration. The huge fish collect in this peaceful channel to rest and wait their turn to attempt the rocky passage. Eagles and bears also gather, to intercept some of the fish. You can look down and imagine one could almost walk across the backs of the fish, they are so plentiful. Our dogs love to swim in this river in warm weather, back a ways, where the river opens in the other direction.

 Song of the river wild,

Song of the rapids leaping

Through the chiseled rock-walled chasm

Green with weeping,

A plunging torrent

To the ocean seeping

Song of the sea-green foam

Song of the white froth dancing

Sun-dappled baby wave-tops prancing

In the sunshine, all my dreams

Romancing.

Song of the green rock wall,

A vessel for the river's journey,

Guiding the flow along the channel churning

To the ocean and as it's

Returning.

Song of the tall green trees

Rootbound and stoic in the deep crevasses

Rooted in bedrock holding up the mountain,

Sentinels for every year

that passes

Song of the laughing brook

Below the rapids green, swirling and babbling

Huge salmon leap,

Fall back in shallows dabbling,

Plunge forth to lunge again,

Leaping and scrabbling

Song of the river wild,

You sing my tattered soul a new song,

Bless the silver beauty of this new day,

Make me know the path I'm on

Is not wrong.

Song of the seasoned soul

That knows the underlying message

Of the river:

Flow with me,

Not against me as we journey;

Travel lightly,

Not a taker,

But a giver.