29 December 2024

By Philip Kuepper

I think of rowers
when I think of the will of water.
Where rocks once lay a path
across the creek,
water has seen fit
to redistribute them.
Trout laugh, as it they aren’t
already wilely enough.
Are trout related to the fox?
Knowing nature…
Anyway, the creek
is now uncrossable, at least
where once it was crossable.
But water will
redistribute rocks elsewhere,
and make passage possible.
It is the nature of nature to provide,
until too much is taken from it.
Then nature has to play dead to live.
Man becomes accustom to being
handed things, and, thus, craves
more and more. Nature,
now and then, must correct
its habit of largesse
in order to survive. The path
of rocks across the creek, redistributed,
puts man on hold. It is a wake-up call
for man to pause and consider
just how generous nature is,
but always only
up to a point.

(20 December 2024)