COURSE OF THE MIGHTY RIVER

COURSE OF THE MIGHTY RIVER

Impossible to fathom is the random hand of Fate,
Reckless is the destiny I’ve lived and breathed of late.

Borrowing mercy like sugar crystals from a kindly next door neighbor.

Hoping good days on the way will still be mine to savor.

But the slightest hiccup in a well laid plan
Can yank the rug from underneath
The tenuous ground on which you stand

Once my life was a shining full moon,
And now it stands a meager sliver,
And there’s nothing mortal man can do
To change the course of the mighty river.

The mighty river set in motion opens into the mammoth ocean.

Never really what it seems, it cuts a swath, erasing dreams

I’m waterlogged and wasted,
Floating in the current like a stray piece of debris.

Impossible to decipher the roll of the errant dice.
Will I burn eternally or shiver lost beneath the ice.

Borrowing time from the kindly doctor, his electrodes and his implants.

Asking for a midnight pardon, a sudden change in circumstance.

The mighty river rolls along, rushing over silt and sand,
Seldom pausing in its path to lend the drowning man a hand.

The gods who once were good to me,
Shoot poison arrows from their quivers,
And there’s nothing I can say or do
To change the course of the mighty river.

-BRUCE POTTS
COPYRIGHT 2008
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED