The River

Bold and careless, free and wild,
Tumbling, splashing, like a child,
Sometimes abandoned, always moving.

Bubbling and tumbling, flashing and reckless,
Sparkling, reflecting, never feckless,
Sometimes falling, always moving.

Puddles and ponds, flowing over weirs,
Turbid in channels, showing no fears,
Meandering through places no-one will see.

Hiding in shadows, searching 'round corners,
Brushing through flora, ignoring the fauna,
Bumbling through branches, broken and dying.

Flying over rocks, wallowing in mud,
Trickling through shallows, floundering in flood,
Passionately turbulent, rioutous, rebellious.

Dogs and ducks, willows weeping,
Flies and gnats, small fish leaping,
Rodents living in holes in the banks.

Children swimming, people in boats,
Ducklings fussing 'round fishermens' floats,
Lolly sticks floating as if in a race.

Current is pulling, starting to eddy,
Starting to strengthen, slow, cool and steady,
Destiny drawing it on to the delta.

Maturing and growing-then one with the sea.