Mississippi

I stood unshackled yesterday, beside The Mississippi flowing wide And dark though annals of my history She was sweet as a mother's stoic misery I drank her water-syllables as though I was in some great silent temple Or shrine, where the ancient spirits know My mystery, and before them humble Became a ward of something no one names Something of water, that knew the flames. I sttod while the ripples wake the souls And cries of a million more, whose blood Have colored these tides - the coals Of their spirit sparkling upon the flood. And here in reverence I yielded a prayer For my soul is kinship with a mighty river Rivers flow in my blood as my blood flows In them. I wept, O because nobody knows The waters of this river could not suffice Alone, to meet the fire of my sacrifice.