In my first sleep <br />I came to the river <br />And looked down <br />Through the clear water - <br />Only in dream <br />Water so pure, <br />Laced and undulant <br />Lines of flow <br />On its rocky bed <br />Water of life <br />Streaming for ever. <br /> <br />A house was there <br />Beside the river <br />And I, arrived, <br />An expected guest <br />About to explore <br />Old gardens and libraries - <br />But the car was waiting <br />To drive me away. <br /> <br />One last look <br />Into that bright stream - <br />Trout there were <br />And clear on the bottom <br />Monster form <br />Of the great crayfish <br />That crawls to the moon. <br />On its rocky bed <br />Living water <br />In whorls and ripples <br />Flowing unbended. <br /> <br />There was the car <br />To drive me away. <br />We crossed the river <br />Of living water - <br />I might not stay, <br />But must return <br />By the road too short <br />To the waiting day. <br /> <br />In my second dream <br />Pure I was and free <br />By the rapid stream, <br />My crystal house the sky, <br />The pure crystalline sky. <br /> <br />Into the stream I flung <br />A bottle of clear glass <br />That twirled and tossed and spun <br />In the water's race <br />Flashing the morning sun. <br /> <br />Down that swift river <br />I saw it borne away, <br />My empty crystal form, <br />Exultant saw it caught <br />Into the current's spin, <br />The flashing water's run.<br /><br />Kathleen Jessie Raine<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-river/
