To The River

By Robert Kelly

The best part is waiting,
watching the sky,
how it shimmers on the river
then soars back home.

2.
When you sit by the river
you naturally think of home,
childhood home, mother time,
everything to be learned again
in a new way, new language,
but the swans are still white,
you almost know who they are.

3.
Need water,
some of us,
every day,
not swallow
to lubricate
the soft machine
but to see,
see every day
the waves of genesis.

4.
Some choose
to go to church
in kayaks or canoes.
I prefer to sit
quiet on the shore,
all river and no me.
Effortless liberation,
swimming heavenward
on patience alone.

5.
I think when Jesus said
if you want to pray
go alone into the inmost
room and pray to the father
He also meant go down
to the river, pray to the mother.

6.
But they forgot to write it down
maybe they waited so we
could find our way to water
over the deserts of the rational.

7.
If I could
I would kneel
by the water’s edge
and whisper
Mother, mind me!
then rest there and wait.
The best part is waiting.