This poem was written for a Peace Project organized by Judy Fisk Lucas. I wrote it thinking of the flooding along the Mississippi a few years back, but it seems relevant every time another place falls to waters, like Nashville, just recently.
I’ve got peace like a river,
I’ve got peace like a river,
I’ve got peace like a river in my soul. ~ African American spiritual
After the storm,
hissing, roiling waters burst through
sandbag levees; the river
brings no peace at all.
Waters carry death and carnage,
waters carry stories and belongings,
waters carry worry and fear,
hope and need and new beginnings.
After the flood,
after waters recede, settling between
banks, whispering of dreams and desires,
even before debris can be cleared,
shoots spring up from sated earth
skyward; like hope, eternal.
New-washed land shows signs of life.
Et in terra pax.*
*And on earth, peace.
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This week’s image ~ from the Cascading Water series of Lucie Grenier.
Thumbnail image ~ from the Cascading Water series of Lucie Grenier.
