I am gentle on a dark quiet river
It is deep and dark and soft and wary
I am silent
It is quiet, huge forms loom on the banks--the bodies
of great whales so long dead, so long dead
I pass beneath their shapes
and they are like the enormous mute statues of gods
which lined the ancient roads
there is not a sound, there is no movement the black water does not
reflect my face
I am not afraid