I took the river road,
followed the song of us
– the one that rings the way
a bell does –
and heard the cry of the child
become the song of the crone
the song of aging man
& stalwart son,
tender crows
dropping raven’s feather
in the laughing water
where we all must weep
eventually
no matter how hard we try
to swallow our paradigms
& pretend big boys don’t cry.
I took the river road
where the waters take our collective sins
along with heartache’s deepest secrets
to that place all baptisms must take us eventually
if we are to ring that bell for those
still lost in the smoke & mirrors: the ocean,
where the depth of
collected wisdom, of broken hearts
& shattered dreams
are mended by salt’s astringence
and big boys are released from the
curse forbidding them from knowing
the taste of their own tears.
for Lynn
©Adrienne Veronese
