By the riverbank,
water collides with
sloping silt coasts
and is pushed forwards
with new speed
At the marshy edge,
geraniums and irises
propel through mud
towards a fragile life
on shifting ground
Overhanging birches
lean into the light
and willows sink
into wet soil
An august swan
glides with a grace that
rolls into the
flow of her own form,
while a fearful rabbit
darts into a tree’s hollow,
fleeing an unknown assailant
Pondweed covers
water at the flanks
while rocks and logs
resist the central current:
holding, holding,
then released
Land contained by sky,
afternoon contained by evening,
river contained by its banks,
a coming and a going,
a coming and a going