Gratitude

In the river near my place

I found myself looking at it

As if I were a part of it,

And that all my life and

Memory was there too

All my suffering, my friends

Suffering and the world

Existing in the dark flow and

Eddy’s that move towards

The sea. Everything was

There, all the wars I knew

From the history books,

All the saviours who have

Come and gone, all the

Symbols that have given my life

Substance, all my loves,

All my disasters, all my

Anger, humour, madness,

Spontaneity, sadness,

Happiness, all my books,

My heroes and heroines,

My monsters and angels,

And every forest, mountain,

Sea, open field of green,or desert

Every sky, wind and rain, tree and stone,

I was once a deer and a fish,

A lion and a tiger,

A Charlie Chaplin, a Groucho Marx,

A Winnie the Pooh, and  Thomas the Tank

Engine and  Mister Magoo and I was

Every colour of race and creed,

White, black, red,  brown or yellow

And  I was a world an ocean

Multitude of tongues I was freedom

And a dictatorship, a seething Bukowski,

A wild eyed Nin, a rollicking Miller,

A visionary Blake, a quiet Hanshan,

I was everything and no-thing, an

Australian, English, Indian,

Nigerian, Japanese, Chinese,

American , French or Russian,

I was man and woman,

Boy and girl, I was young and

Old, Birth and death, and I was

The dance of continual time

Comingling in a river of

Gratitude always towards the

Sea and then onwards to countless

Galaxies, stars, supernovas,nights,

Glorious sound and  silence

and finally only LIGHT.