How To Love A River - Gail Onion

[Larry Robinson]

How To Love A River 

Love the beavers, love the moose, love the ones 
who bend heads, knees, necks,
stretched tongues, licking, lapping, languid, lolling in the water.
The hawk flying low, the eagle flying high,
the owl flying through, and over
those who drink bathe in, eat in, play in, birth in, die in the water. 
The salmon 
Is the blood pulse of the river, 
the otter is the poet player, joy maker, tracker of wild words.
Love the river, water bearer for the green woman and green man
Love the river and walk beside her and listen to her 
and watch her colors shift,
reflect, deepen, rhyme.
Does the river dance? She dances. Does the river sing?
She sings. Does the river dream? She dreams.
Does the river have a home? It is
the mountain and the sea. Does the river remember? 
She remembers.
Love the river on her journey
making canyons and river banks braced by the love 
of tree roots and river stones. 
The river empties and fills with love, 
that is her wisdom.
Dip your hand into her welcoming,
caress her bear black lynx brown back,
her petal water, her dark moody water,
her tired, flat, muddy water,
her blue sky cloud pasture water.
Love the river’s free flowing
exuberant push to reunite with the sea. 
In her silence, is her message passed on.
Do what I do, the river reveals, be open,
move outward and inward, be excited, reverent, still,
be a transport for wonder. 
In our bodies, water ways criss cross the riparian country of ourselves.
Sing with the river, her song as we love the river along, 
we praise its beauty, strength,
her enormous heart flow, 
the purpose of her song to grow wide and deep and long
is how we love a river.

	- Gail Onion