Specters on the River

This is how the river looked this morning at about 6:45 AM before the sun came up over the hill. Of course it's best in person, but I can't help but try to share some of the magic the river brings to us. The correct name for this particular river is the South Fork Rivanna River. Some people don't think it's a river any more because in the 1950's a dam was built to create a drinking water supply for the city of Charlottesville. In that creation, the little mill town of Hydraulic was flooded and now lies under the water. But the river does still flow, just like other rivers, except in times of draught when it's lower than the level of the dam. Still, I call it the river, when others refer to it as the reservoir. The other thing that is a bit odd to me is that the subdivision where I live is called River's End. Well I don't believe that rivers end, so in one of my very rare stubborn moments I wrote the following:

River’s End
in response to the naming of this place where I live

Beyond this curve of river
a mammoth dam was built
to bring to town some water
for local folks to drink

There once were fields
and meadows
where now we float and fish
corn and wheat
were ground there
beneath my bobbin’s drift

The river is now wider
than it was before
pipes transport her bounty
to people on the shore

Birds and fish continue
as does the water’s flow
the river doesn’t end here
it merely starts to slow

jzr



This is what the river looked like an hour later when the air started warming. The specters grew larger and must have seemed more threatening. Molly and Sam and all the other dogs in the neighborhood barked until they went away.