Cayce river walk

In shade of an eddy where you drank

children fished for brim and sunfish with a cane pole and a worm

every summer you leaned a little more above the river

towards the light where no trees stood

I would sit at your feet watch spotted newts

hide in plain sight and ask you the why

of branches and leafy limbs that grew

and dangled lazily above the current

Why they did grow here and not there from your trunk

how did they know that this was where they should

set up shop, brew sugar sap to drink

and shade roots that held you to the bank?

Last week, I walked the water’s edge

watched the current lick your toes and

branches grab at water like a swimmer

trying to become one with the river

Soon you will give yourself up in a fluvial flood

join other trees who grew on a riverbank and

leaned too far out over the flow searching for the sun

above a muddy river that was trying to find its way to the sea

1-9-20