The river — still — not dead, just holding its breath like it’s been doing for centuries, like me, warm-skinned, waiting, a vein of old gods slicing the belly of the land.
Light drips thick, slow like honey from a wound, slick across willow bones, and dusk swallows it without a sound.
Crickets scratch violins made of rust and dirt, screaming lullabies for the lost. Each note a tooth pulled from the silence, buried beneath the reeds.
Maple leaves curl like fists, anger in amber, whispers of fire choking the wind— they’ve seen too many falls, too many barefoot ghosts asking the trees for answers they never give.
Bridges bend like old men too tired to hold stories anymore— but they do. They do. Their backs cracked with the weight of kisses, of “forever”s spit through clenched teeth, wood soaked in the sweat of holding on.
Sun bleeds out slow gold leaking into black, into arms that forgot how to hold anything but absence.
And the river just keeps keeps. Keeps.
Still. Silent. A throat never cut but always open. Waiting for the moon to swallow it whole and call it peace.
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin APRIL 2025 Still River, Amber Light