Mid-day Poem, March 5, 2015

ON THE RIVER: A DREAM (PART 3)

My boat drifted on and I came to a long shoal
Covered over by branches and vines
And I entered this tunnel silently
As one might enter a Sanctuary
The flow of the river
The water that pulled me along
Was rushing white
But the pools to either side of the stream
Under that canopy
Were jade green
When I came through the tunnel
The sky was bright as it was now mid-day
And I saw on the hill before me
A girl, long-haired and slender
She was looking away from me, toward the top of the hill
I don’t know what had her attention
But I started paddling furiously to try to get her to turn her head to me
I did not call to her. I don’t know why. I wish with all my soul that I had.

Just as I began to turn into the next bend
The girl turned to me
And in that one moment I saw in her eyes
Such longing, such fearlessness and such loneliness
That I have not lived a morning or evening since
Without imagining, remembering and dreaming of.
And my boat was drawn away into another descent, another turn.

copyright 2015