THE GORGE OF THE BLACK RIVER

Beside the black river

the alders and aspens stand bare;

their leaves given

for the dark waters

to carry away from the autumn.

The firs rise dark green and black

on the sides of the gorge,

climbing towards the gray sky,

reaching the birches in yellow

standing on the side of the late autumn fields.

The old snake, the black river,

ten thousand years has run

since the glaciers gleaming white

towards the north and their death

on sides of fells crept.

Autumns have come and gone,

winters turned to spring,

and during them and summers bright

the black river its way deeper and deeper dug,

carved this gorge into eternity.

10.10.2018