To Sleep Beside a Stream
       

Father Thoughtful and Father of Waters
stood beside the estuary, talking: "This, my friend,
is the boiling place, the place where two waters
come together." So placid was the glass arbor of the sky
at that hour, having spent the long hours preparing
and maturing the purple vintage they would now taste,
hand in hand the two, each hand on each heart,
and a white sail like a truce spread out across the far
reaches where the waters seemed to follow ever onward.

Yes! The waters curve like star steel. They succeed
exactly where we have failed. And when at dusk
it snows fire, they lie down side by side
and sleep.

Copyright © 2010 Geoffrey Nutter All rights reserved
from Christopher Sunset
Wave Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission