Oh Mashel

My class and I just went on a three day field trip to the Nisqually Watershed. I wrote this poem while sitting on the banks of the Mashel River.

Oh Mashel, Oh Mashel

How powerful you flow.

Rocks carressed into stone,

Your path carved through time.

How much you have seen,

How far you have come.

Felling logs, Flooding lands at times

But never to gain more

Than your rightful path.

    I wonder if, we were not here

    Who would gather at your edge?

    What would you by?

    The water flowing in you is theirs too,

    How powerful you flow.

    Carving your way through the watershed,

    Leaving life as you go.

Even in the dead of winter,

Your banks hold life.

Like a winding womb,

Taking your time, though fast it may be.

Salmon spawn, eagles perch, Natives worship,

Oh Mashel, Oh Mashel

How powerful you flow.