The River at Wolf
Coming east we left the animals
pelican beaver osprey muskrat and snake
their hair and skin and feathers
their eyes in the dark: red and green.
Your finger drawing my mouth.
Blessed are they who remember
that what they now have they once longed for.
A day a year ago last summer
God filled me with himself, like gold, inside,
deeper inside than marrow.
This close to God this close to you:
walking into the river at Wolf with
the animals. The snake’s
green skin, lit from inside. Our second life.
Copyright Credit: “The River at Wolf” from The River at Wolf. Copyright © 1992 by Jean Valentine. Reprinted with the permission of Alice James Books.
Source: The River at Wolf (Alice James Books, 1992)