Nokhem Yud: The River

The River
by Nokhem Yud

End of summer once in reddish twilight
the tree began to ponder
and whispered secrets with the river flowing
like a shiny, quiet mirror in his shores:
How lovely, how wonderful you are oh river
in your end of summer rest!
You don’t even know how much more
beautiful you are now
than in the days of spring
when you were high and roiling at the shore
you carried refuse in your lap
But now when you flow sad and thoughtful
now you reflect the sky
and the stars in the night.
“Yes, yes the river whispered softly to the tree. –
For right now, could be
I am already filled with sadness and with gloom,
submerged in wintry dreams,
and springtime when I’ll roil and foam
and burst out over shore’s edges –
“What do I care then about the sky?”