Tuesday, September 30, 2025

SONG OF THE RIVER


Stamp Falls, Port Alberni, B.C.

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.







for Truedessa's prompt at dVerse Poets Pub: The Song My Paddle Sings. where we are dipping our poetic paddles. Stamp Falls was my favourite place when I lived in Port, the wildest place me and my wolf dog could find. In fall, the salmon gather in the narrows, waiting for their turn to try to leap up the rapids - always amazing to watch.

6 comments:

  1. This is just wonderful... the wild river sounds like a perfect place (but maybe not so much in a boat)... when I'm out and find wild water it is a place where to pause for a while.

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  2. Your song of the river wild is so evocative, Sherry, and made me emotional. I would love to experience the rapids you so love, and the leaping salmon. These lines stood out for me:
    ‘Song of the sea-green foam
    Song of the white froth dancing
    Sun-dappled baby wave-tops prancing
    In the sunshine…’
    and
    ‘Song of the tall green trees
    Rootbound and stoic in the deep crevasses
    Rooted in bedrock holding up the mountain’.

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  3. Sherry, I love everything about this poem. Thank you for taking me on this river journey. This has to be my new favorite poem of yours. The imagery is breathtaking. I can see bears hovering in hopes of catching a salmon or two.

    Song of the river wild,
    You sing my tattered soul a new song,

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  4. Love this - it is profoundly emotional ❤️

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  5. I really enjoyed how you set up each stanza with repetition with changes. Weaving the song of the river through the poem.

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  6. This is soul stirring and poignant to read. Love the songs of the river wild. Those ending lines flow with so much blessings to give.

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