The Discerning River
The discerning river moves
through the crowded valley woods
like an ancient crooked spine
beneath the vertebrae bridges of fallen trees
it's restless currents strum against strings
of rich green algae that cling
like eels onto polished stones
thrusting waves that curl at their crest
and dive into deep musical torrents
stirring up river bed soup
served in ladles churning downstream
to the mouths and bellies
of trout parked like stalled cars
in the lanes of a swamped highway
where all the commuting species
race and dart and hide and hunt
for their fleeting lives
the waters are a living canvas
under the sun's crocheted light
that needles it's way through cedar boughs
to blanket the skin of the river in warmth
filling the depths with spectral glow
before slipping like a gold coin
into the slot of the darkening horizon
leaving the river to dream below
over it's rippling reflection
the moon climbs up like a spider
into the evening sky on a web of stars
riding a lunar arc into the night
where from it's celestial thread it hangs
over the river's valley spinning a rich light
that falls like strands of silk from above
landing between the shadows and reflections
cast by trees onto the flowing water
the river cuts with a fluid chisel
into the permeable crust of the earth
like an eccentric sculptor preoccupied alone
lost in her art as time pours on unnoticed
between these two ice ages
the one that released the river
and the one to gather it back again
Copyright © Jeff Davies | Year Posted 2018
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