©2004, Janet K. Poludniak

It was just a tiny river,
but her waters seem to swell
as they passed beneath the bridge.
Would they lead to hope or hell?

It should have been a special night
with flowers and a ring,
but he had left her standing there.
His words had left their sting!

She stood and watched for hours,
tears streaming down her face
and falling to the water
to mingle there with grace.

She heard the river taunting,
"I'll hold you if you dare!
Come run with me into the night
and drown your deep despair."

Her broken heart was full of pain,
but there was still tomorrow!
Perhaps if she just waited,
the light would lift her sorrow.

She knew the sun would rise again
with light and hope to share,
to free her from her mourning,
that the river could not bear.

She bid the river, "Journey on;
and take my tears away.
I will not run with you tonight,
but all my sorrows may."

With hope, she turned toward home,
spent tears in the river's flow.
A hope was birthed in one that night
the river did not know.

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