THE RIVER THAT...ISN'T

pestered by heat shimmers
the mountain shifts a flank
then...lies down again

"Look...the river
is gone
the river has run away!"

"Rivers..." you say
"...can't just take up their beds
& walk!"

"Maybe..." you say
the river is just
on holiday?"

the river
somehow missing
its essential ingredient

"It's a river..." you say
". . .that
isn't. . !"

the dry riverbed
ran alongside the car
"Water...water!" it seemed to beg

feeling sorry for it
we spilled an Evian overboard
the riverbed lapped it up greedily

"just
a billion more bottles
to go!"

we left the riverbed
behind us
panting in the sun

the river had jumped
into our camera
to get out of the sun

the riverbed
now lives in a photograph
in our bathroom

everytime we flushed the loo
or ran a bath
the photograph seems to smile