The Calling

So many paths not taken

So many words unsaid -

Though I travel far they bind me

In a web of golden thread

I can hear a far-off calling

As the water flows ahead

I am waiting for the river-man

In the hidden riverbed

On the bank three women passing

They measure time for me -

In the mirror of the water

They can but darkly see

I will walk beyond the meadows

With a child in either hand

Through the river's many shadows

We will pass from land to land

All the promises unspoken

Lie like fallen leaves on the ground

But the thread is still unbroken

And the hidden may be found

When the wheeling birds are leaving

They pass the sinking sun

We will travel with the river-man

Until time and time is run