Gillena Cox (1950)

Along the riverside,
I watched the cadence
Of water; ripple, ripple,
In a continuous meandering;
Its motion, as quiet as
The deep wide ocean;

Over stones large and small,
Round and flat, all smooth;
Flowing, rippling, meandering
Fro, going to somewhere;
From the mountains on high,
To be met, at sometime by,
A vast insatiable sea;

Never stopping, ever moving,
Around rocks and stone piles,
Smoothing them with caresses;
While the knowing bamboo, arch
Its width, a guard of honour;
To its age, to its constancy,
To its abiding presence;

River, flowing, moving along;
River of Arima - place of water;
A serpentine watery life form;
Before i got here, and after
I leave, moving in its hushed
Mode, through a lush verdancy.

2008