River Fire

Sun refracted from the river
And reflected on the aspen bark
Fallen near the water’s shiver
Is like fire in the dark,

Pulling flares of solar wind
From the rippled upper air
So that sun and stream are twinned
And sky and showers subtly pair,

Clouds themselves another form
Of land’s evaporation,
Returned dramatically to storm
The splashing site of their creation:

No wonder then that distant fire
Fills the planet’s lapping crest
With flaming stipples which aspire
To the ends their births suggest.

August 29th, 2001