Emergence
A poem by Luci Shaw
So the town grew and they built
us a new bridge over the stream, and later
diverted the flow to an underground tunnel
like a long worm into which
the city shoveled its leaves and garbage,
slowing the current and turning it rank
with mud and rats. Murky. Invisible.
People forgot the old brook
with its little fish, and tadpoles and
green reeds, and its ripples conversing
with the sun. Until last week a great storm
of rain and wind blew open
our windows and our memories and
the water burst through and spread itself
across the city in a great sheet and said,
“Remember me?”