Let the River Run

Last night, as I reviewed the 90 plus pages of poetry that I have written so far this year, I was struck by how poem after poem made references to the river I visit as often as I can, as well as to the ocean into which so many rivers spill and merge. It is a motif that I revisit over and over again almost to the point of being haunting.

There is a relationship I have to the river I cannot really explain. Yet it somehow discloses so many deeper parts of me that simply go unexpressed. The river itself has its own seasons, often mirroring what I need or am experiencing...

I thought of the symbolism of water, how at times it is cleansing, and how it also baptizes and anoints, and quenches thirst.

Before retiring, I quickly skimmed a book I just picked up as a summer read: Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon - and the Journey of a Generation. As I flipped through the last section of the book I noticed it was titled:

"In the river I know I will find the key"

This line, I discovered with some research, is from Carly Simon's song, "Like a River," a song she wrote after her mother's death. This song also contains the line:

"I will wait for you forever, like a river..."

I also thought of one of Carly Simon's most eloquent and powerful songs: "Let the River Run," and I thought to myself:

Let this river run - let it carry me where it will....
The river runs through me...
It is never the same river twice...
I will wait forever, like a river...
In the river I will find the key...
And someday, I will cross it,
and inhabit more refreshing shores...