Gold Rush

I walk through the storm as lightning tears the earth,
splits the stream in two.

The thunder laughs and shrieks, boiling all seasons.
Stranger to it all, I wade in to the swirl of water
that holds more secrets than the tempest.

On the river bank

birch trees in wooden masks stand sentinel
as I submerge, pale as paper.

I play with lapping waves and dive
under the flow of gold dust in the riverbed.
Scooping handfuls of sand I scour for the shine.

Night falls,
crawls, on all fours over the river,

coming to rest in the eddy where I lay.

The river runs,

opens at the mouth whose lips sink to my nape
where salt water caresses wet skin,

pulls at bedraggled hair,
the falling belly and yielding neck.
Bare, I writhe in rapture of the sea.

Head lifts and sinks beneath the waves.
Neptune’s price is high

and the river gives everything.

Gold Rush

I walk through the storm as lightning tears the earth,
splits the stream in two.

The thunder laughs and shrieks, boiling all seasons.
Stranger to it all, I wade in to the swirl of water
that holds more secrets than the tempest.

On the river bank

birch trees in wooden masks stand sentinel
as I submerge, pale as paper.

I play with lapping waves and dive
under the flow of gold dust in the riverbed.
Scooping handfuls of sand I scour for the shine.

Night falls,
crawls, on all fours over the river,

coming to rest in the eddy where I lay.

The river runs,

opens at the mouth whose lips sink to my nape
where salt water caresses wet skin,

pulls at bedraggled hair,
the falling belly and yielding neck.
Bare, I writhe in rapture of the sea.

Head lifts and sinks beneath the waves.
Neptune’s price is high

and the river gives everything.