07-14-2025, 06:34 AM
This post was last modified: 07-14-2025, 06:40 AM by AlroyFarms.
"The Great River"
And by the time I woke from the party
To find her gone from my bed
Sheets disturbed
And to see the traces of everyone else
that left during my oversleep
Those few seconds before the dream fades forever
And things go on
I really try to understand what she said to me—
At the end of the great river
I pick up empty bottles and collect crumpled tissues
Wipe the counters clean. Morning breath that chokes
I search through the canals of foreign cities
Bright signs in languages I cannot understand
And the promise of grilled wholesome food in the air
Along the concrete wharf, aberrations
stick their fins out from the steel-gray depth
Stirring, foaming
Waiting for me to slip off my makeshift raft
Small logs held together with twine and a prayer
I steer into turquoise stillness instead
Past icy waterfalls that lead to creeks too narrow
And water too shallow. On the banks
Walls of yellow flowers and vine close around me
And it all passes out of view on the great river
But what I see before me at the end
Where the river meets the sea
and the sea meets the land again
A high mountain of pines and firs, and even beyond that
A vast desert that stretches into starless black
Permanent night that frightens me
Barefoot in her flowing white dress
Sun-warmed and sandy hair
She points in this direction
Then she holds me tight. Tighter than anything
And says in words, mouth moving, that make no sound at all
Something I cannot understand. And I know
I do not want to go on alone
Both of us with tears flowing on the beach
On the beach, at the end of the great river
And by the time I woke from the party
To find her gone from my bed
Sheets disturbed
And to see the traces of everyone else
that left during my oversleep
Those few seconds before the dream fades forever
And things go on
I really try to understand what she said to me—
At the end of the great river
I pick up empty bottles and collect crumpled tissues
Wipe the counters clean. Morning breath that chokes
I search through the canals of foreign cities
Bright signs in languages I cannot understand
And the promise of grilled wholesome food in the air
Along the concrete wharf, aberrations
stick their fins out from the steel-gray depth
Stirring, foaming
Waiting for me to slip off my makeshift raft
Small logs held together with twine and a prayer
I steer into turquoise stillness instead
Past icy waterfalls that lead to creeks too narrow
And water too shallow. On the banks
Walls of yellow flowers and vine close around me
And it all passes out of view on the great river
But what I see before me at the end
Where the river meets the sea
and the sea meets the land again
A high mountain of pines and firs, and even beyond that
A vast desert that stretches into starless black
Permanent night that frightens me
Barefoot in her flowing white dress
Sun-warmed and sandy hair
She points in this direction
Then she holds me tight. Tighter than anything
And says in words, mouth moving, that make no sound at all
Something I cannot understand. And I know
I do not want to go on alone
Both of us with tears flowing on the beach
On the beach, at the end of the great river
