I Dreamed I Was A River

                                                     by Ralph Fletcher

        I dreamed I was a river,

        swift-running and dangerous,

        or slow-lazing and silted,

        my toes a thousand tributaries

        trickling from mountain snows,

        my belly fixed but ever-changing,

        stretching across continents,

        mouth wide open to the sea

        I dreamed I was a drop of sweat

        on a quarterback’s determined brow

        I dreamed myself an iceberg,

        an enormous moveable mass,

        home to walrus, seal, Arctic tern,

        feared by dogsledders and warships,

        my huge underbelly never seen

        by the eye of the sun

        I dreamed I was a raindrop

        falling on a drought-scarred field

        I dreamed myself a water creature,

        my ancestors all ocean-born,

        my body three-quarters salt water,

        living on a rare water planet

        I dreamed I was a tear

        in a grown man’s eye