Oconee River Rock

I remember a large rock

By the Oconee River

Sometimes I’d go there for head-clearing

And rest easy beside the red-clay stained waters

Watching for warblers in the poplar trees

On the opposite bank,

As they stopped over to gorge themselves on arboreal insects;

Energy stored for equinox journeys

By the rock, the waters ran swiftly

Their upstream tales unfurled,

Telling of the river’s course left behind

And I was the only one around to hear

Save for a kingfisher chattering at the wind