Oneness

A river flows through
diluting waste from the village  
Birds stop to bathe and stare longingly
at bugs skimming the surface.
 
Toddlers splash naked on the shore
as older siblings turn dirt white over and again
A fish jumps into itself a stone’s throw away
as an eagle takes its final flight overhead.  
 
Upstream a woman comes quietly  
on sun-drenched driftwood
Humming softly, her mate throws out his net further down, capturing the eternal now yet again.
 
A half-submerged canoe laps gentle waves
as sand crabs hunt hurriedly under the merciful shade of its decay
A red paint chip gives at last and floats away
it, too, becoming one with the (in)finite.
 
R.