The Personhood of Rivers

 The Personhood of Rivers

This will require a basic shift in attitude.

Even though I love the earth,

advocate for our fellow living beings,

work on dismantling our superior pedestal,

it is a stretch to think of a river as a person.

But I am trying.

I respect the elders who are urging

this change in our culture. They urge us to

stop treating water as a commodity,

to honor its being, to free it from constant entrapment.

Children have the open and curious minds

to see a creek as a friend and teacher,

to sit on its banks or paddle down its current

and merge with its personhood.

If I can remember with my child's heart,

and open my eyes, my ears, my mind,

I'll set off to befriend a body of water,

its twists and turns, its seasons of life,

and celebrate its freedom and intention

as it runs through our world.

Let it be so.