For This Life

Riddlework of riverbed
tracery of cloud
oxbow and marshland
horseshoe bend with cutbank

no hurry to get there
just settle
into afternoon unnoticed
while the stonefly nymphs rise
dumb
to the waiting cutthroat

let the bufflehead rest here
and the hooded merganser
make circles
and lord
and I use that name
‘cause I’ve found no better one

lord
let me linger a while
in this eddy
before I rise . . .