BLUE RIVER
A blue river stretches
In the imagination,
Vast and preternaturally blue,
To the sea and what
Cannot be seen,
Broad- and island-soaked,
And as still as time
Before time.
Crossing its waters,
Floating on air,
Drifting with its current,
We traveled slowly,
Swept by the blue expanse
Toward eastern suns,
Two white slippers
Floating mid-river,
Idling in the cold breeze,
Cloudlike.
I have no idea
Who you were,
My fellow traveler
On this blue river.
I awoke to tell another
This tale.
To describe this blueness,
Of its wild-open trail
And silent depths,
Of its emptiness
And its woodland shores.
At first we were standing
At the forest edge
Wondering at how
To access this marvel,
To follow its blue
And full horizon,
To travel its length
And enter its breadth,
A blue and depthless
Path through forests,
Peopleless lands,
Below azure skies.
No one was out
Drifting aimlessly,
No fellow travelers
To be seen.
And what transported us
On this limitless current
Was invisible,
Or but a breeze.
No boat and no sail,
Two slippers idling
At midstream
Were the only sign of
A human presence –
Signature of the solitary.
Yet two, not one,
And as slight as paper.
A dream from some
Primordial shore,
And journey made
Or underway.
This royal river
Of vast expanse
Turned and flowed
Toward a sea
Unseen and surely
Unknown to eyes
That sailed the momentary
Measures
Of time itself
Before time was made –
Between bejeweled waters
And the azure sky.
GK (03/27/11)
