T8 Poem by RIC BASTASA

there is a winding river
beside tall mountains
you must know that we have
crossed this river
ten times already

it is the same river
winding through the banks
of these foggy mountains

the tall cogon grasses
can deceive us and so

are the boulders of rocks
that lie along our paths

we are grasping for air
to reach the highest peak of these range

of mountains and valleys and
plains

at the topmost
there we can see the truth and negate

that we can never step twice
on that same river that winds through the hillsides

snake, boa, venomous circuitous foggy paths
damned, we stepped on the same river more than twice

this is the tenth, and this is the highest peak
the world is nothing but a winding snake.