You fight the current.

Stop rowing.
Watch the oars slip from the oarlocks
and slide downstream.

One you let go,
once you relax into the river's pull,
then the herons appear,
lifting you from your leaky longing
and placing you gently among
the great, green, silent reeds
swaying at the edge
of that far shore.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All
rights reserved.