Beautiful river flowing through a forest.
Poem

River of Life

Image from American Rivers

The only infinity on this Earth is the infinity of the questions without answers.”

-Autumn Brutyn

The River of Life

A poem by Autumn Brutyn

Sitting on the shore of the endless sea
A question came on the wind to me 

A question so rhetorical, so subjective, so sweet,
A question without an answer, forever incomplete

Impossible to answer, yet it lingered on my thoughts:

What can encompass life?
Life, so complex, so filled with strife!

A frog on the banks of a never-ending stream?
One speck of dust in the golden sunbeam?

No, not that, that’s not right.

Because what of the endlessly multiplying people?
Billions and billions, like rust spots on a steeple

The infinite wisdom in a dragonfly’s eye?
Each meaningless fleck of dirt in a rancid pigsty?

No, not that, that’s not right.

Because what of the young ones, the old, the bold?
Each spirit, so unique, with hearts warm and cold…

Can nothing emulate it, that tumultuous diversity?
The way the Earth rumbles and shakes, all topsity-turvety? 

Maybe, maybe not, but one thing comes close.

Because time will never cease to fly,
I thought, just like the river chugging by

The river, with its millions of glistening bubbles
Bobbing and weaving, like children, no troubles

The river, highway to the sea, comes close

Because it ebbs and flows, angry before it calms,
Has droughts and floods and never-ending qualms

Pebbles shift and change, silt travels downstream
Just like humanity, restless in their dream

That river, roiling and bubbling, comes close

Because...

Life is imperfect

Life is diverse

Troubled

Beautiful

Never a curse

Life is drowning

Life is sweet

Hopeful

Dismal

Take it from me:

There never has been, and never will be, one true answer
Life’s secrets are elusive, captivating, like a masked dancer

But if you seek an answer, please, hear my plea:
Turn to the river! The water! The path to the sea

Because the river, 
To the sea
Comes close

1 thought on “River of Life”

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s