Walking past
the high fence, not seeing—
knowing only
that I have not,
do not, will never
know them—but
as their glinting peels
of laughter
come skittering
through frivolously
falling after-
noon snow flurries
to thaw
and to enter the furtive
folds of each ear—
I cannot
help but apprehend
how it came to pass
that—
many disparate rivers,
once dislodged
from their
high prisons
in secret icy caverns,
all simply ran and ran
and ran, fast and head-
long
into the same vast
and ever-
lasting ocean.
