Where the river runs.

Nature at its worst.

When I was born in seepage, my voice was just a trickle.
When I was joined by others, it became a chuckle.
Filled by many others my voice was clearly heard
By creeping fellow infants with need to travel stirred.
Growing with ambition we dreamed of distant places
The sunlight through the forest danced gayly on our surface
Our hearts were filled to bursting in our urge to travel
We dance in our moving as we skip past stone and gravel
Other tributaries joined us in our journey to the sea
Our wish to travel doubled which we carried in our glee
And fish, some ever present and others travel torn
The chub, perch and trout. The salmon, home to spawn
The prawns and crabs, the voles and rats, the beetles and the flies
The scavengers and opportunists and others on the side
All feed and forage in the waters, we alone provide

Sometimes there is peace and sometimes wild confusion.
Many problems lie ahead but only one solution
There can be but progress in our strong determination
To move forever forward to reach our destination
We added to our volume the boon from far off storms
Rushing through riotous rapids. Gently through the calms
Gradually we gathered growing greatly in our strength
Meandering in a journey that would prove a country length
Neath overhanging branches, our music filled the soul
With fields of fruit ready to fall and wheat all turning gold
Past fields and farms that calmed the land with quiet peaceful air.
The winter season brutal. The growing season fair
On, past a place of barren land where lost men could pay dear
We shunned this place called desert, we did not like it here
Where a man, burned dry in his fight to live, none to heed his cry
Falls in a heap within a heat that is hot enough to fry

So, on to a place where mountains stand directly in our path
To a place where some may hide from the sun and its brutal wrath
This path that we've eroded over centuries of wear
Till our song it echoes off the walls, standing tall and sheer
Through a canyon, dark and deep created, as is our right.
Once again we're running free and on our homeward flight.
We hit a place of thunderstorms that over ran our banks.
All of nature tried to run as all around them sank
Hurricane's deluge of rain flattened everything in sight.
It's fury knew no fading as it fought with all its might
Those who reached the highest point, fell and thanked their God
Aching for a sight of those familiar paths they'd trod.
Others, helpless in their drifting, for a place to lay a hand
For a piece of terra firma, for a place on which to stand
Where once they had craved acres, now a mere metre would do
Just once more to feel secure, though granted to but few.

When all of nature cried 'enough!' the hurricane said 'wrong!'
Increasing his furore, twice the volume, twice as strong
Now we are awakened! We are many joined together!
Now I am full of urges as we combine with the weather
Keep your placid waters, your silence and your calm!
Give me mighty torrents, let me thunder like the storm!
Let me leap into the abyss, let me fall from such a height!
Let me tear away the land in the fury of my might
Let me show my strength to all as I fell the mighty tree
Let me fill the land with water, looking like an inland sea
They will all try to calm me in a hundred different ways
But for all their efforts and attempts my persistence still holds sway
Their efforts are all futile, their attempts are swept aside
I stretch to far horizons, my shores are far and wide
Taking many hours of sailing to reach the other shore
Till the deluge slows and stops and so, I can grow no more

I find myself receding and my anger becomes tamed
So, I stir myself to travel and I'm on the move again
The angry seething clouds that churned the sky, no longer fill
Now, the sky grows lighter, everything sits quite and still
There is peace upon our water. The wind becomes a zephyr
But all the aftermath is shown to fill the heart with terror
All that once were living now come floating into view
Where many an harvest once had thrived now only carrion grew
How many dead? How many saved? Only heaven could say
Eaters of carrion gathered close to clear it all away
All the dark and grey that had blotted out the sky
Became the welcome colour of lapis lazuli
Now I flex my strength again, it is a wild sensation
Behind me everything's a wreck, a scene of devastation
Behind me everything is changed, nothing's as it was
The roaring of my exit sounding like a wild applause

I must go on. There is a place where I want to be
It's forever calling on a breeze through trees to me
Though it has never told me what it is, nor told me where
It's constantly assuring me that it is waiting there
Running! Running free! carrying all along with me
The mass behind driving in a whirl of ecstasy
The bulk of me streaming! Steaming to pastures new
I exult in my new found feeling. Yes! Indeed I do!
I have lain static far too long in my liquid state
I was born to move and drift as my form dictates
When I rest in my frozen form, in that state I stay
When I boil I cannot help but dissipate and fly away
Take me then my guiding furrow, take me ever on
Point me toward my destination, carry me along
Keep me ever moving, there's a place I long to be
My home. My place of longing. My destiny, the sea

Reviews

[Bryan Sefton]

Thank you once again for your very welcome review. How I envy your living next to the Thames. I caught a glimpse of it once through the window of the coach. Very nice, .wish it ran past our house. We have to make do with a rather inferior River Irwell. Thanks again Chris.

[Chris Shaw]

I bet the river Irwell has her moments. I will have to Google it Bryan. There is beauty everywhere for those who look. Poets have the knack of finding it in the most unlikely places.

[Bryan Sefton]

You're right, we're a class apart.

[Chris Shaw]

I have an affinity to water and in particular the river Thames which we navigate frequently and have for years. I have seen the source of the Thames, a tiny trickle right down to the estuary and out to sea. I have seen the Thames in every mood. From calm and tranquil to angry and spewing, flooding the landscape. I was born within half a mile of the Thames in Hammersmith and now live in Berkshire two miles away from our nearest point. This river flows through my veins. I really appreciated the journey this poem took me on Bryan. It covered a life time for me with many people and many places on one river. Thank you for this great share. Have a lovely Wednesday.

Chris