Life Is Like A River Poem by RIC BASTASA

we give away like the way a river flows
day to day

we may start with the petals of the flowers
we let them fall one by one

to the flow of the river
then we begin again with the leaves and then

the twigs and the branches and then if we have
nothing more to give we give away the tree itself

to the flow of the river
we look at ourselves we give every part of us

piece by piece to the flow of the great river
our properties our honor our clothes and when all these

are given away we start to give back our hands, our feet
we look at every pocket of our senses and when everything

is given away we shall now give the last that we have to the flow
of this great river of life

we let flow our soul. we have given everything
sometimes we ask that we stay for a while, but this cannot be

the law of the great river of life is clear, we give everything away
slowly, willingly, until all the pain of giving is gone away