The River - Poem

The River

I stand in the middle of a river of love.

Behind me,

my parents stand on distant banks,

their hands still wet from carrying me

through fevers and failures,

through scraped knees and broken hearts,

through all the years I believed

I was walking alone.

Beside me,

my son walks toward his own horizon,

one foot still in childhood,

the other reaching for a future

I cannot yet see.

And I understand now

what I could not understand then:

Love is not a possession.

It is a current.

It flows from hand to hand,

from generation to generation,

gathering stories as it moves.

A mother watches a child on a stage.

A grandmother watches the mother.

A child grows and someday

becomes the one watching.

The river keeps moving.

Names change.

Faces change.

The songs are different.

But the current remains.

I stand in the middle of it today,

held by those who came before,

holding those who come after,

and for one brief, beautiful moment,

I can feel the whole river