Aftermath 2006

I paddled past your house today.
Even though November is coming to a close
The sun was shining on the river, and my boat slicing through her diamonds made her dance.
I thought of you as my paddle dipped first left then right into that shallow body.
The leaves are gone, the lilies, the cat tails, the blue heron, all gone.
Even the deer carcass that I first saw at the end of summer is rotting its way into yesterday.
And you, like a skinny chain smoking bird
flit around your huge cage
all but swallowed in that vast space that once was yours, and now belongs only to you.
I paddled past your house today
and wondered when you'd be flying south.