And So Flows The River
and so flows the river
dipping toes and skipping stones
each ripple, her grace extending,
banks shaped by wind, water, and time.
silvery roots, the dancers of the forest,
their buckskin leaves rattling in winter.
ghostly sycamore, lining the creeks
that lead to the river, they stay with us
always, no distance or time
can erase, those days.
we are eastern people -
Rappahannock, Susquehanna
Shenandoah, Patuxent
Severn, all
coursing through
our veins.
a faded, wooden porch
beside a dusty road in West Virginia.
abandoned buildings on Biddle Street,
the Upper Green, the ocean, the sky, the
past.
our lives and paths,
the losses
and music
an ever changing geography
of our hearts, gliding downstream
and so flows the river.
-Carolyn Surrick