On the river.....

Men may dam it and say that they have made a lake, but it will still be a river. It will keep its nature and bide its time, like a caged animal alert for the slightest opening. In time, it will have its way; the dam, like the ancient cliffs, will be carried away piecemeal in the currents.

Wendell Berry

Nothing reveals the natural world to him quite as clearly as a river. Keep your lakes that go round and round with no outlet. Nice for a summer day, but eventually the stagnation brings him back to his original thought, and that won’t do. No, the movement and continual replenishment of the river is what stimulates the mind. The river, a collective of droplets beginning somewhere far from here, or far from there, and eventually flowing past him, if only briefly.

When traveling a river he always has an option. He can push up stream either by paddle or petro, counter to natural flow, unwilling to going along. Or he can let go and flow with the current, excepting all that comes his way as if the choice lay elsewhere. Either way, an option exists.

The favorite scene in his mind or movie is the early morning escape. Awoken on the shore by those in pursuit, they slip into the canoes, gear quickly and quietly stowed, and ease into the current and drift undetected downstream.

djs