We Share the Same River
"I see it moving through you.
It makes you tremble. It makes you
crumble before strangers as if the next
step is too much to bear, and yet inside,
way inside, it is refreshing, isn't it,
to feel something that is not entirely yours
course through you so unexpectedly. First
it moves through you, and now it moves
through me. We share the same river.
It starts before us and rushes beyond us.
Sometimes we run from the river though we can't.
But now I bow to drink of it as it moves through you
and you bow to drink of it as it moves through me,
the wash spilling through us, breaking us of pride,
the wash sounding out compassion, compassion. We
share the same river. It makes the earth one living thing.
Between us it pulls until strangers are no longer
strange, until enemies forget why they fight.
First it moves through you bringing sand
from your ancestors to swell your tongue
of its excuses. Then it moves through me
breaking me of all difference. We share
the same river and where it enters
we lose our stubbornness the way
fists wear open when held under
in the stream."
