River Enemy

The river flows through time
before birth and after death
impervious to human strife
carrying all away in its flow.

My enemy floats away
as I sit by the river
watching him pass on
before the distant shore.

After he drifts by my sight
I still hear his distant voice
calling me to the water
together as once before.

We go out to sea
where all things dissolve
in formless water
enemies no more.

Jim Hanson is a sociologist and retired Senior Researcher at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. His poetry collections include Endless Journey: Poems in Search of Meaning published in 2022 by Spartan Press, Perspectives: Educational Poems on the Humanities and Sciences published in 2023 by Wipf and Stock, and Ruminations: Poems on Living and Dying published in 2023 by Cyberwit Press. A chapbook titled Anthropic Musings was published in 2019, and single poems have appeared in some thirty websites and printings. Read other articles by Jim.