Smooth white rocks line the familiar bed
A sad child sits close beside me by the stream
Providing me a harbor where I come to scream.

Yabbies, mountain lobster or mudbugs
Crawdads swimming against Nature’s mirror
I point them out to the girl who is now nearer.

Appalachian bristle fern surrounds us
No one will attend my nursing graduation
I share my news with these spirited crustaceans.

There will be no pictures or celebrations
Tadpoles are frolicking in a delightful fashion
My walk onstage will offer up silence, not passion.

Tears forming in my sore eyes yet once again
As I lean over, I see them mixing with the stream
This place of God’s where I come back to scream.

Who is this child I wonder as she offers me a hug
My parents drunk again, why on this specific week
The River Birch’s leaves begin to clap and speak