Souls

What oceans hold and anthems know
Is mirrored in a river’s flow.
The raindrop not absorbed by earth,
Hovering on the brim of birth,
Meanders slowly toward the sea and
Yearns for holy unity. Then
By strange grace the droplet mates
One also seeking heaven’s gates.
Day by day on earth they drift.
Year by year they carve a cliff.
I perch upon the clifftop red
To gaze upon the river bed.
Half an eon brought it here;
Each moment it becomes more clear.
Each moment now it finds its course
Which, like a handshake, gathers force
Or leads to commerce, truce or love—
Reflecting, there I sit above.
Sitting with me at the bend,
Half a century, is my friend.
I flow with him, the river we,
Pronounce our name: eternity.