In commemoration of the wild dolphins of Myanmar's Irrawaddy River

The River Whisperers
By John Herlihy

I imagine, but I cannot see;
At first I deny, because I cannot agree.
I listen, but I cannot hear;
The sound I imagine brings me no fear.

The cool January dawn gathered morning mist,
That hovers over the glassy waters as if to be kissed.
River sounds awakening, making themselves known,
Parakeets fly by with their jungle colors clearly shown.

Premonitions float ominously across the waters,
A sudden hint of the miraculous, of what could be.
Today will bring the long awaited day of reckoning,
When a new mystery will be unveiled for me to see.

The wild Mandalay dolphins swim in subterranean waters,
Of the Irrawaddy River safe within these secluded quarters.
The river originates amid pristine ice of Himalayan glaciers,
To plunge thru gorges down to the plains of Mandalay’s acres.

The silver-grey bumps break the placidity of the water,
Before returning silently below like some ancient squatter.
The dolphins circle the water whispering softly from the deep,
The shiny crescents then disappear without further uttering a peep.

A fisherman drifts by speaking his own patois in sincere whispers;
His small teak canoe plies the waters with sounds like a lisper.
Fishing is his lifelihood, the dolphins his accomplishes in crime.
“Time to go fishing,” the dolphins whisper from the river slime.

A hint of slate blue momentarily visible in the rounded back;
The large head appears like a melon, the body floats like a sack.
Shining reflected sunlight on the underside belly of white linen,
Its beakless mouth stretched wide giving the appearance of grinnin’.

A slow swimmer by nature and in no special rush;
The dolphin sounds echo across the waters in a faint hush.
Mixed with river sounds, their voices sound extravagant and lush,
If you talk with them quietly, they seem to reply simply “shush!”

From the snow-capped peaks on the mountain tops of Kachin state,
To the rice paddies and marshy mangroves of the Mandalay delta plate.
The river makes its way down thru primal history until the present day,
Protecting the legendary river whisperers with wise messages to convey.