Mississippi Moonrise

a wide of endless slow divides
tall bluffs of cooling silence
still and dark against clear sky
turgid through long bends
slow-moving where it wanders
underneath a curving span
arched blue and quiet
to the other darker side

through formlessness
the diamond stars spread wide
across emptiness of nighted sky
mirrored by the shimmered lights
of unseen towns hung softly in the dark
across the roiling water
in strings of precious jewels
lighting dreams of sleeping lives
a world of river away

underneath the canopy of forest
hiding long miles of slumbering farm
from endless river bank
branches black on cloudless sky
cupping fields of night-kissed corn
with wilderness
we watched the moon rise golden
with September
slow and heavy from the east
to kiss the stillness of the water
into eternities of silver
the infinite reflections
of our peace