River lover

I came to see you today.

Walking in the winter bleakness

foot crushing dead leaf and sparrow's wing

frozen earth unrelenting;

I made my way among the naked hazel

to where you ran, crashing.

I didn't expect to meet you

there among the limestone rocks,

where the ice made patterns of intricate filligree

like lace or leaf vein but not

of human fashion.  I thought I was alone

accompanied only by memories and regrets,

that this winter the hearts too are frozen,

stand separate and insensible -

like the trees that grace your flanks.

And, looking up, there you were.

I heard you first;

your song a passionate torrent that nothing could stop,

each syllable as transient

as

each droplet of your being,

as momentary

as

the eternity within which you flow.

The roar of your song deafened unhearing ears,

(those insensitive to the melodies of love),

yet awakened a mantra of oneness and union

in I who heard the silence

within your word.  I looked at you now

and noticed that you were smiling and holding me,

that I could not drown;

neither in sorrow nor regretfulness would I be found; rather,

swimming in bliss among the rocks

I had become your river lover.

I swam to your heart.