Love and other things

Unless you get into white water
and rapids
it's sometimes hard to see that a river moves

in a former logging area
like Ottawa
you run up hard against the logic
of rivers
when you consider logs were driven
down rivers to markets and mills
and when you bump into schools named Philemon Wright

or stay at the old lumber baron's mansion
up the Prior

but when you are landlocked
or don't travel the river
imagining a river running
into the sea
is a bit
like chasing rainbows
you believe there's got to be a treasure
but you can't feature what it looks like
or see yourself making the discovery

yet we are assured that
rivers make their way
inexorably to the see
and even to landlubbers
who live up along
and rarely visit
where they would be said
to come from away

this makes a certain sense
not perfect sense mind
but as close as gosh is to swearing sense
or maybe a bit more
if you're not thick or anything

but the actual place
where river meets sea
can be murky still
to those who live
with the coming and going
of the tides
water meets salt
and temperatures change
and depending on the latitude
manatees range
and there can be reversing currents
rip tides and swells

and it's when the tide slackens
from ebb and flow
and high and low
and the water clears
of silt
and you can see the bottom

in some ways
the progress of love itself slackens
before the river of friendship meets
the sea of love and other things
and for a time you can still touch bottom
and keep your head above
or submerge and surface
as long as you dare
but we're not there yet
and so our progress resumes
as we repeat that voyage
ourselves unknown
in waters uncharted
and take our chances
as mates have done
before partnering was coupling
and coupling meant that
which should not be undone.