FLOOD-TIDE below me I watch you face to face;
gauging the river's leaping course steady on the grin you make
laughing while I inch above the rage on a fallen tree.
The water's spring rush is vibrant angry,
a roar through it's routine banks.
My eye is fixed on the knotted scowl of an opposite tree;
I only wanted to find safe passage in short cuts
to the mud -beleaguered wood
on the other side.