soft grumbles

I wonder where the river flows.
It is difficult to see what lies beyond.
Does it take you out to sea
where abundant fish swim freely,
colorful corals breathe to multiply,
or where giant turtles spend
a hundred years?

These waters could lead to a dead end
where algae is replaced by silt
accumulated through the years
of wanton neglect,
storage of the bowels of a city
long dead.

I have always stayed at the river’s belly
where troubled waters churn,
swell with the monsoon rains,
dry up with a relentless sun,
or rise and fall with the tide
as a fickle moon tilts the earth to its whim.

I never learned where it starts or ends.
I cannot be a spectator all the time.
I better start paddling, discover
where it will take me.
But which way should I go?
Together with or against the flow?

Labels: life