Lee Ann Schaffer (1962 / Charleston, South Carolina, US)

Don’t make the river home.
Rivers can turn wild,
Tossing you about with no care for how you land,
Bashing your bones once you do.

Rivers rage with
Perilous potency
That rends limbs and souls;
Sudden fury to blind or behold.

The river can heal,
Sustain life,
Then jerk it away in a flashing splash.
Visit the river

Don’t make the river home.