To a Friend
Who Died in the Swamp

Rivers meet in my eyes
for you.

Transfixed on the veiled
Mound of the swamp,
Lone beholder of unsteady opera
On rotten marble,

You saw the reeds dancing
To unknown winding plight,

Smothering storms broken
At your feet.
Doors of the earth swung
Into the dark footage of the waters
As they took you in.

The river that meets rivers
In my eyes for you

Is a lament for a nation.