Today I Stood By A River Poem by Bill Mitton

Today I stood by a river swollen in song
and from its rippling, happy, surface
a rainbow mist of laughter and love arose.
Here, inside a treasured, pinned, likeness
a poignant song for a love lost to the sea,
there, flowing by under a day-glow wig
a heart in grateful song for a love saved.
Multiplied within this swollen, rainbow, flood,
33,000 songs of hope, gratitude and love
flowing through the Sunday morning streets
and from the walls and windows of our city
the returning echoes of these love songs,
became in every watching, listening, heart
standing upon this running river’s banks
a sympathetic beat to each trainer footfall,
and glow of pride at this generosity of spirit.
Here in the cold morning air the river runs
until tin-foiled, medaled, tired, hot, it stops
and it’s colourful, rippling, roar subsides
into a memory hymn of love and
an anthem for the will to live and love.