Drawn down to the river on an early Sunday morning

Drawn down to the river on an early Sunday morning,
I went to watch my sorrows drown,
Shoulders bent under nameless guilt or the simple piling on of life
Taking slow steps like my cousin Jesus across the sea to keep from falling in
To rain softened earth opening softened lips to suck me in.

The trees bent over me in soft lament, rustling their leaves like moistened bones
Whispering their shady incantations as they reached down their branches
To enfold me like arms of comfort for those bereaved
Pulling on the strings of my soul to lift it higher
Up to the azure deeps above my head.

But I kept from sinking in, using gravity as my lifebuoy,
As if balanced above some vast chasm of deepest blue.
The duck family floated by undisturbed by the rough waters of the river
And quickly ate the bread I threw their way,
The leftover crumbs of my unconfessed sins.

The metallic waves were stirred up by breezes
Striving to become white caps but not succeeding,
Marching in close serried ranks towards the shore
Where they thrust themselves on rocks
Like lemmings eager for destruction.

Around me was the utter quiet of a path without people
Until I stopped and turned for home.
Then they seemed to sprout from out the ground
From dragon’s teeth full blown on bicycles and roller blades.
I stepped aside to let the squads of runners pass.

I looked up and saw a single cloud between the outstretched arms of trees
Shifting its shape to become your face.
I cut the bonds that bound me to the earth and sunk upwards
To kiss the nothingness of cloud that grew to let me in.
Enveloped by the filaments of fume, I opened my eyes and saw the sun.

The rays of joy penetrated me like flaming arrows
And I was amazed that weightless as I was
Like a fire that burns and does not go out,
I was still held in this world by your image.
Beneath my feet the clouds parted to show the stars.

~ by reeven on July 6, 2009.