I am a river

Steady and strong

In the mornings I wake to the bird’s haunting songs

As the sun ascends

From its watery grave

It shines down on me

In my misty haze

The morning is innocent

Truthful and bare

Slow, pale, tranquil

And blissfully unaware

But alas, as I run

Through the passage of time

The sun rises higher,

A true spite of mine

And as dawn fades

Into noontime glory

The innocence is lost,

And the truth-

It’s quite gory

Noontime bares the harshness of midday

Direct light breaching my masterful facade

For if one would just plunge

Their head beneath the surface

They would be privy to a world

Of wonders

Of purpose

Though my waters may portray

A simply reflective glass

Beneath is a tremulous chaos

Betwixt dolphins and bass

These fish, like thoughts,

Weave in and out

Leaving stray bubbles

And ripples and clout

The sun glosses

My imperfections to shine

The world is amazed, not by me,

But by thine

For they see what they wish,

Not me for what I am

I’m no more than a mirror

An object

A thing

Nothing to value

An end, not a means

As noontime sun coalesces in the west

Sunset reveals my watery best

The colors they ink

The sky and my waters

Dazzling, blinding

My last sign

I’m a martyr

And the sun is yanked

Beneath the treetops once more

Leaving just the moon

To catch my teardrops, adore

And it shines, alabaster

In glistening pools

Dappling my surface

The darkness, it soothes

And now I may rest

Eternally grateful

For the sun will soon rise again

And repeat my woeful fable