Rivers

Rivers are the blood of life;

As our rivers flow to nourish Mother Earth.

So our blood flows to nourish the human spirit.

The Yangtze flows for the yellow man.

The Danube flow for the white man.

The Congo flows for the black man.

The Amazon flows for the brown man.

The Mississippi flows for everyman;

Yet it also flows for the red man.

Perhaps, all rivers flow for all men.

All of our rivers flow to nourish Mother Earth,

So our blood flows to nourish the human spirit.

The river gives life until poverty plagues its shores

With cholera and hepatitis.

Until greed plagues its shores with mercury and dioxin,

Then the river gives death.

What fool would fight nature to dam our rivers,

To block their flow?

What fool would poison or pollute our rivers?

Only one fool,

Man.

Man, blessed with a free will to serve.

Man, cursed with a free will to destroy.

As zealots of racism and religion destroy themselves,

So zealots of greed destroy our rivers.

Perhaps, man serves as a zealot for both good and evil.