River: Styx

A river rolls away the soil,
Crumbling earth and rotting boils
Of the world above, below,
Revealing what there is to know
About the leaves and stones and mold
Caught within the river’s hold.
It shores away the boulder’s shoulder
With a voice that booms much louder
Than the echos of the stray things
That find a falling in the cold streams.
Even mountains find an ending
In the river’s twists and bending.
Hearts of stone revealed to sunlight
After lifetimes cased in craggy heights.
Nothing from the prying fingers
Of a river long can linger.
If the shape is slow in taking
Still always, always in the making.
A steady flood I feel revealing
All the things within me sealing
As I stand within the river.
For the cold, I have to shiver,
But I know the chill is passing
And I’ll stand, myself still lasting.
My river, like that ancient passage
Charon ferried past time and past age
Leaves me bare, beyond my youth.
Smooth, I shine in simple truth
Like a pebble.