(For Joe and Kate’s 50th anniversary 
in Kaw Point Park at the junction
of the Kansas & Missouri Rivers)

Turn around and see
the swift merge of water
and the skyline of buried tribes

Read the river’s liquid skin
the slice of current’s knife
the depth of double flow

Mark the end of meander
the written word of floating leaf
of dancing twig

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

Turn back again and see
the shore of asphalt shaded by mulberry 
where old men take their slow gin

Watch the jigsaw of our merriment
at the long intertwine of our kin
This is the place saved by them

and this is the place that saved them
where the sudden air is light
and birds do a ballet on the sidewalk