Fall Launch On the river, it all makes sense. The sun decides starting time, And quitting time; river and weather Mark our lives‹how many rapids to run, What camps to choose, how long to linger. It¹s the lingering I love, A chance to see the light on things- Cliffs, slopes, water, beaches, Mesquite, mergansers, tamarisk. I take pictures‹hoping, I guess, To cling to something. Useless; The trip flows on. I fly back to Detroit, still stunned. My city¹s what it¹s always been- Loud, mad, grinding, confused; Busting loose. It¹s all familiar, But I¹ve lost my place. Until yesterday, Driving through clots of cars, bars, Potholes, and junky lots, I glimpsed Detroit¹s river-battered, clogged, ruined‹ No Colorado, yet a presence From the trip: a strong, open stretch of water Telling me where I belong, And where I long to belong. Bob Donaldson November 1998

A River Runs Through It It is time Touch it Trail your fingers over a billion years Linked in the red rock There is no monument, no temple more sacred Than this monumental temple to the whole wide world This great chasm of the whispering eroded eons Terrible majesty beyond comprehension Tender intimacy of glowing glances of sunlight and splashing waters Stand here on the riverbank awhile and drink Let the true peace of the last wild places wash all the dirt from your soul Leave you clean and empty and new See the light play here and there over bench and spire Gold, tan, red, buff, gray Hear the love and music of the free water Green, brown, white, splash, glitter A new note every day in the symphony of the universe The sun sets and you see there are two rivers One beside you One above you And as you watch the stars wheel slowly through the sky dance The silent sandstones leaning over you reveal the grand secret: You are part of all of it, and it of you The past is forever and unchanging But the present moves through it as it will And the sky reflects it all and gives it back The waters that divided these vistas flow through you You were the rock You will be the sand on the riverbank And the life that is in you Will pass through you