what spring is this

when have you seen such a river

oh   once or twice out west

in the evergreen forest   timber country

the loggers' muddy   rutted roads

the spring run-off from the hills tearing up the place

torrents that came with the rains

running under those stout wooden bridges

mountain run-off   too cold to touch

trout streams turned wild

i saw them once or twice   the water

does tumble   i don't know a better word   so leave it be

if it were a tanka i would add two lines of the rocks

no   the boulders 

something like   but   never mind

that may be for another day

~

rain swollen river

   tumbles down the mountainside

overflows its bank

for tom lindgren who showed me the place

gave me my mantra