It is painful to believe in beauty.
It is painful to believe in the soul.
But, it is too painful to believe
in the river. Either it
embraces, or is smoothly cruel.
It is too painful to believe
in your touch. In
the river, it warmly enters,
or cold slits through.
It is painful to believe
in your hate, when
in its depth
I find schools bursting
with resplendence.
It is painful to believe
you are a tiny droplet formed
in the image of an ant’s
humble and alien body
meant to bear a soul
that I must love
for its strength
and its beauty.

– Petawawa River, Algonquin