By Scarlet Torch and Blade

Chapter 9: THE RIVER

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About This Book

A varied poetry collection presents lyrical meditations on open landscapes, woodland life, and the forces of fire and weather. It is organized into thematic sections that range from expansive outdoor scenes to domestic moments, playful verse, a sequence devoted to individual tree species, and a group of poems reflecting travel and longing abroad. Imagery often centers on natural details—trees, animals, rivers, and mountain tops—while occasional narratives depict human labor, community, and small, ironic observations. Tone shifts between solemn, celebratory, and whimsical, and several poems combine illustration with short rhymes to evoke mood and place.

THE RIVER

Once I gurgled with a hiss In the glacier’s cold abyss. Dull and muffled was my song As I felt my way along Through the mystic caves of glass Far below the great crevasse. Now I greet the blessed light, Out of night and bursting white— Baby-giant—keen to forge, Loudly laughing, through the gorge; Straddling rocks and riding bumps, Brushing branches, hurdling stumps, Peevish, boiling, sluggish, slack, Lunging forward, swirling back; Leaping from a bouldered dale, Snaking through a clay-banked swale, Draining streams from every draw Down into my hungry maw, Swelling with the tribute paid— This is how a river’s made.