The River Dried Up. Poem by Tony Adah

The sojourner is on his way
To the promise land
The route is overgrown with weeds
And he wondered if this is this is the sojourner's route
He trudged on to where a river used to be
Thinking he was in the wrong place
The river dried up and deep canyons
Stood on the banks, its bed a hollow
Gritty with pebbles and sand
The boats too dry and broken oars
Resting on the hulls
The boatmen had gone, their trade murdered
By the guns of drought
And his journey terminated
He looked forward,
A wilderness yanked by a deep valley
He looked backward
The grasses were bent back on the road
He was wet in a bath of dews
And he wished that the dew water was much
To make the river come back!