Gardener River

Chico at dusk
cottonwood sways
headed south
the eastern dark still raced
and when we'd walked as far as you can
we heard the flood and so we ran and ran
there was the light
we'd left behind
the one that we
set out to find
and on a bed
of travertine
we saw the flood
and how it means
it means to be seen
there is a power in a river
there is a power in a song
there is a power in a shiver,
the Gardner river and where to belong
born as a middle-man
between the sons and daughters
old women and old men
and like the fall it came so clear
we're watered down from year to year
and year and year
there is a power in a river
there is a power in a song
there is a power in a shiver,
the Gardner river and where to belong
there is a power in a river
there is a power in falling to knees
there is a power in a shiver
the Gardner river told me to be pleased