River Prayer

Winding past sand dunes like shapes of a cratered moon, the river moves and ibis stand on stick thin legs in the grand flow of the Nile. Mississippi muds ooze through headwaters overflow down to the shrimp bayou. Macaws call in misty dawn awakening monkey chatter through swamps of the Amazon. Frothy rapids cascade past cliffs that strain to touch the sky above the Colorado's roar. Out of the old growth forest comes a gurgle of water rushing as the Willamette appears before us. Winding, moving, crashing, frothing, gurgling, roaring, oozing, the stuff on which our lives depend, our heritage, our kin ... this water.