The river I sailed?

The river I sailed?

A foolish whim in my dark youth.
Splashing improvisation, girlishly
soft, of fresh feeling: hormones
vacillating through the luscious green
allowed to seam the crater of a soul.
Dragonflies suspended over still water.
Heartbeats under a postponed
first kiss.
Streams came from elsewhere—
dreams along the road I would never
visit.
Sometimes she would
like a self-assured woman
burst out of her banks – my much too much
love for Him. Now I play around with her,
changing gender as a towel
in the morn.
I don’t know who I am.
A wild maelstrom? Then again the
desolate rivulet
where the air bubble wants to mix
with ink.
This is my creed. A word
I gave to the most beautiful other.

Translation of a Dutch poem by Bart Stouten whose work touches my heart.

This one is for you Stargazer.