This river, love

This river, love,

Whose currents carve deep channels

Through the panels of my heart,

Can slice, creating deep divides

Of absence, or an overflow of presence

That floods and fills

each hollow cavern,

Uproots deep-planted prejudice,

And carries all our obstacles 

downstream; deposits them

On sharp rocks where, exposed 

In all their agony,

With tattered remnants of past glory

Hanging from their gnarled and grasping arms,

They scrabble tortured fingers 

against the harsh light of the sky.