Water

I am water. I stand still, in mossy shallows and ripples creek-like. I grow old in you, as the lilies bend.

Crows sit on the stone, tremble back, and glance down too. How long did I wait? For stars to pass over, for branches of leaves -

All in cadence, like a forest. New light bends across my face. A tide, a current, a wave, to keep me flowing.

• Lorine Niedecker