By Donna Bruschi

 

You came to me as a small fish: frantic, untiring, unceasing

Swimming upstream to the place of your birth

Your only need, to reach the headwaters.

At that moment, I knew and surrendered

 

And a spring deep inside me sprang.

And I held you.

You asked me to fill a pond and I did.

In time, your incessant demands pushed forth a tiny stream.

Droplets skittering over my being, your essence seeping into my dust

Each day a new gush, another groove, cut and deepened

And still you spurted forth,

Carving me in ways I didn’t expect

You dribbled and babbled and always, I held you,

New shoots sprang up in your presence, needing tender care

The spring thaw always eroded.

Unearthing pebbles, then rocks

Carrying them, bump. bump.

While you gurgled and rushed, seeking the path of least resistance.

Gaining momentum, deepening, broadening

Overrunning your banks, flooding me

Gouging me, eroding my boundaries

Always shaping and cutting your own path.

Always following the path of least resistance

In your retreat, detritus and silt to be cleaned or absorbed

 

An aerial reveals switchbacks and impossible twists

That make no sense

Until you are walking the banks, walking the lay of the land.

 

An eddy formed, a deep swirling in my unceasing efforts to hold you.

I admired how the sun cracked into a million diamonds on your skin

You fell silent, biding your time, building strength, seeking an outlet

With a thundering roar as you exploded over the edge,

A thing of unimaginable beauty

My heart stopped as you went over

That unstoppable, terrifying, endless plummet

Only to land in another eddy, and me grasping, to hold you

Yet forward you moved, dragging rocks, trees, pieces of my heart

Your power fluid, spellbinding

I was awestruck, lovestruck…watching you go in your churning

You embraced, then sidestepped boulders

One day, I held you one last time and then, you were gone

The swells of the ocean pulled you in and you swam away.

I watched for awhile, sad and happy, adding my tears to the confluence

Grateful for the spring that still nourishes my heart