Once, my favorite laces on the river were where the water ripples around fallen trees, branches, or roots. You could actually hear the water rippling with its soft undulating rhythm that enchants a harmony with self and nature. Methodically enfolded a harmony with self rhapsodic flow, one tends to forgive and forget what called them to this location.
Once, my favorite places were where the river babbles over the slippery slimy rocks deposite
d there so long ago when nature hurried in silent retreat from Michigan. The urgency now conveyed by the cacophonous response of energy meeting an immovable object. Its invigorating knowing we possess the same energy as the river, while bearing witness to the rocks inability to slow the energy, just temporarily defer its direction. As the rocks revitalize the rivers energy, I am revitalized with a renewed appreciation of my own energies.
Once, I enjoyed reflecting by the shallows of the river, knowing that just beneath the surface lies the passing of a lifetime. What is perceived as slow or stagnant is alive and resting so others may draw life as they pillage about the surface or plunder the sediment of another. The shallows filtering both to top and to bottom, preparing the river for the next portion of its entity. The erosion along the banks reminding me the serenity is beguiling and all reflection is distorted.
Once, my favorite place was the swimming hole with the sounds of children frolicking timelessly in it cold alluring grasp. Shivers of energy transferred from river to youth, from youth to parent, always ending in a smile. The river is a magnet drawing both the best of the person and their memories as it dips, dives, crashes, cajoles, mesmerizes while "tattooing" a person's soul. The river's life offers a prayer in the names of those past, those present, and those whose future will bind them to the river.
The river is a continuity spanning all other continuities due to its ability to resolve harmoniously what otherwise would be noise.
The river is family.
11-11-94
©Estate of Jack Archambault 2007
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