Stagnant Water Poem by Severien Meyer

Stagnant Water
by: Sev Meyer (1996)

After many days of torrent showers
I stopped to view the swollen creek
Just down the road from where I live
To marvel at the muddy swell
And watch the swirling waters seek
A coursing route to reaches far removed.

Surprisingly, the whirling flow predicted from within
Was now the opposite of what I’d thought,
Not murky liquid fast retreating,
Gushing headlong toward a meeting
With larger creeks and riverways,
But sitting flat and quite reflective
Of clouds and trees and butterflies,
All so possible and due of course
To heavy soils fully filled
And distant rivers bulging.

And now this placid H2O
With exit blocked further below,
Has nowhere else to go but up,
Languid in its present state,
Of warming, Mosquito-vital, insect-rich, Turtle-shelled, Frogly-fraternal,
Teeming with Life,
Stagnation.