Journey

*

Snow melts rapidly,

ice to water.

The river runs

down hill.

*

Her swift, dark waters

cut into river banks

drowning trees,

swallowing light,

inhaling the sun.

*

Deep in her belly,

the kidnapped light

is secured in darkened safety,

a prisoner of her womb.

She labours on.

*

Past spindle limb-ed

bent trees.

Then,

through the swamp

she passes.

*

Her tiny waves

breaking when fouled

on aerated roots;

engulfed

by centrifugal force,

they swirl.

*

Splash

they rejoin

the flow.

She forges on

where shadows are

but reflections lost, and

murky depths

mask secrets.

*

Faster now.

Her watery plane

a massive ache.

Engorged with light,

She releases from her belly,

the Sun.

*

A drowned captive

of a shadowy past.

Adrenal rush,

her flushing of the bank,

a constant, savage repetition

that finally erodes…

*

her underbelly

of mud.

collapses

stricken, oozed, lost.

*

Unsplash —photo by Hike Shaw — Brown Snake.

*

She widens her flow

bravely running

over flat, brown rocks

heat baked; ever mindful of

half-submerged reptilian.

*

Relief.

Wide, flat plains

are reached.

Shallow waters

pan out,

to stretch and glitter

in the sun.

*

Unsplash — photo by Thanti Nguyen. "Foaming Drops Dance".

Foaming drops

dance;

fly into the night

as they leap

high on pleasure.

*

Her load is heavy now.

It’s the winter of her time.

Pelting rain

invades the acid lode

vaulted in her belly.

*

But still she moves.

Currents swirl and eddy,

split,

link,

rejoin.

*

Become one again,

At water source.

So She runs on

through the flats,

towards the mines

to…

*

Unsplash — photo by Andy Falconer . "cyanide-laced cocktails ...carry death"

carry death;

when

cyanide-laced cocktails

gold tailings are

dumped

into her very waters.

*

Unsplash — photo by Marcel Painchaud

*

Birds dive for fish

to die,

trailing their plumes;

and tenderly she holds,

bears,

their sodden bodies

on wave crests,

to water’s edge.

*

Staggering on,

dis-eased,

She looks for a place

to rinse away

poisons,

systemically received.

*

Unsplash — photo by Joao Silas — Iguazu Falls . "A place to rinse".

*

She thunders on

pulsing downhill

swirling,

energetically

riding out her pain.

Once again her rich, green depths

are cleansed

as waters pass over coarse, yellow sand.

*

Transiting to reaches

where alluvial gold

is elusively leached.

*

a.a.hardy

copyright 1999

all rights reserved.

#climate change, #nature, #river, #creativity

416 words