I'M The Nile Poem by Suzanne Hayasaki

I flow.
I flood.
I fertilize fallow fields at the feet of pharaohs,
As they sit, witnesses of the march of time,
From the rise of their necropolis,
To the arrival of Napoleon,
And on and on,
Through ransacks and renaissances,
Rapes and reparations.

And yet they are still babes from my perspective.
I witnessed the rise of Kilimanjaro,
I fed the saplings that grew into jungles,
Covering the continent,
Then receding, conceding to savannahs,
Giving rise to the strange creature called “Man”,
Who now threatens himself and his fellow life forms with annihilation.

And yet my memory stretches back even further,
I myself have withered and swollen,
Broken natural dams,
Changed course,
Over and over again.
But since the birth of this earth,
I have flowed,
Endlessly, steadily,
Shifting silt,
Swirling dirt,
Moving mountains,
Reviving, renewing, recycling the stuff of life.

I am the oldest witness.
I was old when this time began,
I will be no older when this time ends,
I will usher in a new time,
A renewed time.
With silent eyes,
I will flow.
On and on, unending.