river

I have braced myself. I have struck my root strong, an immovable rock in the current, because they told me that there would be strong tides and floodwaters trying to rush me away, and break me and upend me. They who have seen, or who make me believe they have seen the source and the shore, the icy wellspring and the vast open end, have told me. So I have stood firm in the flow. But you have climbed aboard that boat, and you have gripped the small oar tight, and you have eased her out. Pushing off from the little stone jetty, you have eased her out into the current, into the stream of life. And it may be that the torrents will come. It may be that the torrents will come and the rain will pour down and the river will rise in fury against us. And I with my roots in the heart of the earth will withstand it, as should be. And you, my friend ? You in the boat that bobs up and down, you whom the gale can cast, helpless, into the whirlpools and drown ? And in the waters you traverse, sharp rocks may rise up from out of the once-friendly water and smile their jagged, wicked grins in the horror of the night... But then my soul too may be broken. But yours in a hundred more ways as you travel the current and harness its will to carry you on. Mine, perhaps, is vulnerable only to myself, that my own regret may rot me. For that too is a greivous weakness.
But in the other times, in the calm times, perhaps your joy will be greater, to compensate for greater sorrows ? You may dip your oar into the current and go to places that I shall never see- such places !- Places beyond the reach of my mind, and you will see them and know them and delight in all that there is in the world to be known. And I, standing in my place in the river, will hear it gurgle around me, gurgle delightedly, like the laugh of a baby, and feel the filtering sunlight around me, and know all about these little bits of home. I will have to know them and love them, for it is from them that I will have to glean my wisdom. For if I cannot be great, and cannot be brave, I can at least, be wise ?
But though everything may be different, and nothing as it now is, in the times when you pass my little spot again, come and spend a little while, will you ? For at least there is this much alike in us- that we both stepped out into the current, to face life as it came winding our way. And so the coming and going and understanding of that river is in both our minds. And it always will be. And if there should be a storm, and you close by, come and lay anchor to me, and I will hold you. If ever I can, as long as I am able, I will.