Time Is a River

Time is a river
We sail upon our tenuous craft,
Threading through the spaces of our awareness.

If we try to sail upstream, we struggle against its current.
If we try to course ahead, we miss its markers.
At times it runs straight and true,
At times rough and perilous,
Then broadens and pools languidly as if still.

But time is never still. It brings us unrelenting to both our greatest joys
And sorrows—still,
The river is our kindly friend,.
And if we but respect its twists and turns
And avoid its hidden rocks and flotsam,
It will take us safely to the sea.