Mist that Rises
Published in
Dec 17, 2021
(written January 25, 1998, at Victoria Falls, on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe)
The river breaks to channels,
the channels to jets of racing water
broken by rock after black rock
to droplets flying in formation
past the edge of the earth
suspended
their plummeting
jostling, joining, streaming,
and breaking again to droplets in the wind
sideways, rising, swirling
meeting other droplets
rising from the pounding depth
and drops of falling rain formed from the rising mist.
There is no shadow in this valley of death
where all is mist
and nothing is remembered,
where everything that falls must rise
and fall again
as mist
on the camera lens.
