The River & The Sea
She’s silver down a mountain side
Moonlight or sunlight, she’s the bride.
A River, she meanders slow
But down a hill just watch her go!
He foams and billows on the shore
He’s done so for eons before.
The Mighty Sea, he calls himself
And beckons River to the shelf.
‘Come roam with me’, he murmurs soft
As foam upon the shore, he froths.
‘I’ll take you to far distant lands
I’ll show you rocks; I’ll show you sands.’
‘Ah! Mighty Sea’ she laughs out loud
And with her laughter forms a cloud.
‘I tumble down from hillside high
See rocks and sands as I rush by.
Some sturdy pines on my banks rise
They reach their branches to the skies
And closer to my curving side
Small creatures in their homes reside.
Beavers, muskrats, sometimes deer
Even pet dogs, they come near
From me they drink, do they drink you?
Oh, Mighty Sea, you don’t know dew!’
The Mighty Sea he chuckles soft
And throws a spume of spray aloft!
‘Ah! Whales and dolphins, they love me.
Come down sweet River, come and see!
These mighty creatures of the deep
Come, see how in my depths they sleep.
And on my shores, when you drop by
Shellfish and crabs, small octopi.’
The River takes a deep, deep breath
To her the Mighty Sea is death.
‘I know it is to you I flow.
But really, I don’t want to go.
For I will lose my sweet clean water
And to the Earth, I am her daughter.
Still, I go as lamb to slaughter
For the sorrows I have brought her.’
‘O River, sweet,’ the Sea he says
‘Our Earth, she has mysterious ways.
And claims as long as you flow on,
Your sweet clean waters will go on.
Flow, flow down to the estuary
And there we’ll meet just you and me.
Whether sand or rocky shingle
Let our waters meet and mingle.’
Jade-green River trembles and slips
Her hand then Mighty Sea he grips.
‘Steady,’ he says and holds her close
And ‘round her then a cloak he throws.
‘Let’s venture forth,’ the River laughs
‘And let this be my epitaph:
River laughed when she did venture
On that last, that great adventure.’
Rohini Sunderam is author of Corpoetry – Desert Flower – Five Lives One Day in Bahrain published by Ex-L-Ence Publishing. She is a Canadian of Indian origin, and a semi-retired advertising copywriter. Find out more about her on her blog or on Amazon.
