"The River"

The river flows on
The current is strong
I go through the rapids and eddies
Always moving forward

I have tried swimming upstream
Frustrated and exhausted
I gave up
And the river carried me on

I swim very badly alone
I must have the help of the others
The others in the river with me
I thought this made me weak
I tried for a long time to swim alone
It was very hard and frightening
Sometimes I almost drowned
I had to ask for help
Or die
The ones close to me kept me afloat
Even though I did not like them much
They scared me
They scared me almost as much as drowning
Almost
I asked them where the land was
The land where I could stop
And rest
They said there was only the river
This frightened me also
No place to rest
Ever
Always the river
Always the rapids and eddies
Always moving forward
I knew I could not do it
They told me they could not do it either
That when they were tired
Or frightened
They asked the others to hold them
To keep them afloat
So they could rest
I had never tried this
I thought they would just let me drown
I thought I must learn to swim alone
I was wrong
The others have told me a story
About another river
A river we go to after we die
They say it is very beautiful
Calm and peaceful
With a very strong person
Who holds up everyone who gets tired
I like to think about it sometimes
It makes me happy
Yet I hope
That we can still help each other
When we want to
For that is a very wonderful thing
There are many people in the river
Some are very selfish
And laugh when I ask for help
They are very good swimmers
Very strong and determined
But the river is very strong too
And there is no land to rest on
Ever
And sooner or later
They too must ask for help
Or die
I hope they ask for help
For the river is very beautiful
But I never saw this before
I was always to tired
Trying to swim alone
There are many others in the river
Many are like me
We are very weak swimmers
And we sometimes forget things
So we get together often
To help each other stay afloat
To help each other rest
And to help each other
Remember things
And it is very nice
Sometimes
Even with much help
Someone drowns
But this is the way of the river
It hurts
For we will miss them
But many of us believe the story
About the other river
With the person who is very strong
And helps us all to rest
So
The river flows on
The current is strong
We go through the rapids and eddies
Always moving forward
And we help each other to rest
And may it always be so.