A DISSERTATION ON RIVERS

Elaho River

Jon Merk photo

                                         

The river of love can 

knock you to your knees,

when that tall dark stranger's heart

develops teeth that would

consume your essence, 

if you allowed it-

a napalm strike that levels 

the landscape of the heart,

scorched earth devastation

in its wake,

from which all of your foliage

must begin to grow anew.

This is when you will discover that love

- real love, not napalm-love -

is the river, the ocean, and the droplet, 

one drop an ecstasy on the tongue

after times of great thirst.

After passing that class,

you enter Being 101,

discovering your true identity: 

minute, one solitary drop in the turbulent sea,

and vast, part of the ebbing and flowing,

of the largeness

of the ocean itself.

Fall in love with the way

the moon splashes stardust

on the surface of the river,

irradiates the pond with an 

unearthly radiance,

lights a silver pathway across the lake.

Beyond, the dark and lumpy 

mountaintops huddle

like the hunched shoulders 

of an indolent giant,

the moon a bauble for him to bat 

from side to side.

Let the evening breeze whisper 

endearments in your ear,

translated by the silvery timpani 

of the leaves, falling 

from their accustomed branches

without attachment, without regret, 

free of fear.

Learn to fall like that,

in love with the whole world,

and you will never

be alone again.

Allow your heart

this most glorious

pilgrimage.

One from 2013, my friends. Shared with the Poetry Pantry. See you There!