In the morning
by the river
gently waking
all nature is reflected
in the slowly moving current
in the trees as they bare witness
in the grass as it bares its blanket

in the morning.

I saw you like this
at the birth of morning
as day spawned its dawning
as I rowed out onto the water
and I sailed on ever further
from the darkness into light

in the silent stillness of the morning

as if I were following creation
on back to its conception
as if all before had vanished
as if the earth had shed all blemish

in the stillness of the morning’s silence.

I saw you like this one morning
as I waded out into the reflection
on the river that caressed creation

in the morning, still and silent

like I were back at the beginning
to see how it all had started
before we stripped it, raped it, starved it.

I saw you like this
one morning
as I sailed
along the river
as I looked into the waters

flowing
forever onwards

and saw all that time could never capture
and a beauty we can never truly hold

and I wondered
who will worship
all this wonder
when we’ve killed
each other off?

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly