Wedding of Rivers
I wonder how the Missouri River feels losing
her identity into the Mississippi with
no recognizable trace of her maiden name
in any swatch downstream past the merger.
I wonder if the Mississippi thinks himself eternal,
with his banks the only boundary for the swath.
Surely the current through Hannibal conceives of
no beginning and no ending, and
certainly no deposit
swallowed up in gulf and sea.
if it believes there are no deeper channels
than its own wells. Has it not heard
rumors of epic fathoms and waves like
curling towers, of sea creatures
bigger than boats
and stranger than gods?
** RLP **
