A River Runs Through It Poem by Steve Gregory

Like a stream of water rushing down the street
With people of all nations rushing feet
The city roars with noise as the sun beats down
And traffic appears to snore as it snakes through town.
Spires and towers, cranes and blocks
All conspire to fill the sky
And people walk by the artist
And blindly pass musicians whisper
Intent on getting to who knows where
Or finding the way to a bar for beer
And a gelato ice from Italian Fare.
And a river of people flow through the parks,
The streets are heaving in every part and
The river of life flows as a tide in flood.
And blood flows through human streets
As the river streams through the city like an urban vein
While people continue to ignore the busker
And the human statues and stare at the face of the
Mobile in their hand and try to understand just
What the river is and then recognise that they are lost
Amid the city streets and the river flowed on.
Now lost in canyons of concrete and clay
And faces look back through glass that fades
With the brightness of the day reflecting back
And blinding the eye as the mind seeks redress
As they ford the river of life to the banks of stores
Who open their doors to swallow consumerist fare,
And a river runs through it that washes the city
While the living take pity on the losers waving their begging cans.
Humanity streams vociferously through city lanes
And veins that spread from home to office and back again
With longing to be away where the river runs free
Looking to the sea and the open sky and running with the flow
Of rivers rush through city streets and country fields
While all around the sound of life gets quieter
As the river mercilessly careens through the heartless infrastructure
That steals the dreams of all mankind, yet eyes
No longer see the strain, as the river leads to healing paths
And the trees give leaves for the healing.
And the river continues to flow, as people in the know
Follow the fluid tidal path to the source of life
And vivacity, where water streams past life giving seams
Of geology and earth and mankind soaks bodies
In the depths of the life that flows with the river
That runs through the city and settles the dream
With heart that beats in time with the flood and the
Rushing feet stop and look and see the light that shines
As the overflow of life returns its mind to the vein
That is no longer clogged with the detritus of living
But flowing with fresh life and giving salubrious health
To the city streets, as the river flows on, as the river flows on
And the concrete and clay are no more.