The Lstone In The Middle Of The River.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

it feels like i am drained
of all my running water

the fishes in me are jumping
gasping for precious breath

i have this mouth but it
cannot speak

after all, she says, i must
be a river

always, she continues, without
more water

how can she love me forever?
she is the stone in the middle

of my pool, and when i run dry
on a hot day of summer

she will just be another stone
of this death-bed beside a mountain.