80 flows the river

80 flows the river

A single river

flowed when her water broke

toward valleys

lined with lily

waving red paint brushes

on blank landscapes

waving ideas

calling columbine

as goshawks watched

the bull snake

emerge in June

hungry for life, hunting it even

like the boy who watched

then hunted for life

while his rivers flowed into

autumn and then under ice

until everything waits

for waters to break

again and rivers to flow

and this happens many times

for the boy who is fortunate,

one who sees it once and again

—RJ Stewart