this river is all that remains of the great floods which carved these canyons
the old ones tell us this is where time began--an emanation which knows not its own source
yet this crafty creature creeps up on us, an uninvited guest.
and spirits were born with time:
the hawk, the fishes, the bear are the vessels for the soul of time
their gift though, is the unknowing, the ignorance of time's mortal measure
we flat earth walkers, we talkers, are burdened to tell the tale--one of beginnings and endings, of birth and death
the winged ones and the water dwellers see the same sun rising and sinking
though for them, the stream, the canyon, and all it births have always been and will always be,
for they are not cursed to see, the awful arc of this light
they are spared the specious rhyme and rhythm of day and night, the repeated reaping and sorrowful sowing;
the knowledge of the end of days, for everything which had a beginning