It was a strange moment.
I was standing at my kitchen counter in Austin, Texas, while imagining myself sitting on the banks of Fish Creek in Wilson, Wyoming.
I was immersed in a grief I didn't quite understand or know how to name.
I heard words flowing through me: “I’ve come to the river to sit, for this is where my soul can breathe.”
That was five years ago.
Today, I want to share the poem I wrote that night and a photograph of Fish Creek. It’s a spot I’ve visited every summer for over twenty years, a place that brings me a profound sense of peace.
I invite you to watch the video and imagine yourself joining me for a sit at the river. And I wish for you to feel the same peace I feel when I’m there.
I've Come to the River to Sit
(from Brainstorms)
I’ve come to the river to sit,
for this is where my soul can breathe,
amidst the grasses and the trees,
watching the clouds above reflected in the water below,
a mirror of myself as I take in this moment.
I’ve come to the river to sit,
to pause.
And it feels right now
like I am the only thing that is still
in this wild world around me.
I’ve come to the river to sit.
This is where my soul can grieve.
The movement of the water soothes me,
reminds me that life keeps flowing,
just as the current never changes
its direction.