In the old days

the world, replete with life,
offered all kinds of marvels:
River gods rode serpents,
divine themselves and wedded
to the waters, serpentine.

Those days passed quickly,
passed away too soon,
as we turned in on ourselves,
dammed the river, built
our cities on its shores,

tainted those living waters.
Now we have only the myths,
a faint memory of the vitality
of waters, skies, and earth.