The brackish roots of river pine
Anchored in my curving spine
Bend to the whims of wind's design
And I lay down at your side
Above the brine of reeds and clay
A swollen angel oaks bouquet in a red-wing blackbird's eyes of gray
A saltwater tear resides

But the sand and the earthen parapet
Silts into this rivulet
The bluffs and the banks will soon forget
A single tear has cried

And in the spawning ground it blooms
The nectar and the petal plumes
A purple swallow now exhumed
From the river that has died

Palmately spread delphinium
Bachelor buttoned malva comes
To be your lilied bride
The crimson of rinoculous
Gardenia and dianthus
The bloodless ivory water lotus
Sweetly opens wide
But even the most fondly named
Rooted and by green leaves framed
Surely must come to be reclaimed
Beyond the great divide

Without a voice left to sing
With water-logged and heavy wings
With peaceful eyes unsuffering
A pigeon floats in the tide