Down the hill
Behind my fathers house
Ran that little brook
Where we would torment fish
And push the water around
Or dig in the clayey bank
It was an innocent worship
I didn’t know how that water
Seeped into me
A river came through my property
Bending hard behind the house
It took st Francis from me
And delivered a folding table
And several numbered plastic ducks
The question then that I didn’t ask:
Who am I to doubt the wisdom of the water? As I lay in its endless flow
And tried too hard to let go
Sixty three feet above sea level
Six miles to the sea
Sandy said “you need the dunes”
I want to speak of my house
But I have come to the sea
there is the salty sea
I hear it, it is in me
Or rather, (no, also)
I am in it
And for that,
There are no more words
20220822
For the prompt at earthweal https://earthweal.com/2022/08/22/earthweal-weekly-challenge-river-gone/
erbiage 
Ah, I love this poem as it is that way with me too – for the tribe of ocean dwellers, the sea is in us and we are in it. I love the childhood memories of playing in the creek too. For me, it was a lake, and, when I hiked the sandy hills, the fresh water in the flues, heading downhill to the vineyards. I would splash the water over me on hot days.
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We take water for granted, it seems everywhere & easy but no one really controls it, not in storms, not in planned developments: and that we need it so for daily sustenance becomes sickly hilarious when we come upon undrinkable oceans of it. Sickened spirits thirst for booze, baptize with bling, salt the sting and guzzle everyone else’s life-blood. Water water everywhere and no surrender blesses us fully into it. Whaddayagonnado. This flowed source to source.
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I like the way you put into words our childhood relationship to water. If only we could have kept that respect and trust that ran through our play. (K)
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Indeed! The sea and rivers run within us…
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We who grow up and live near water–close enough to internalize it and give ourselves to it–we are lucky, blessed, connected. I hope our children’s children have that opportunity!
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I love this!!
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I love this too, your lightness of touch and breadth of scope.
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