The Binding of the Years

The creek was dark

beneath the canopy of trees

save for one shaft of sun

that lit the stream there like gold

I could see 

on the bottom of the creek

a crawdad, scuttling to safety

the crawdad hid beneath 

an ancient sheet of paper

heavy with age and 

weathered with water

There was writing 

on the old paper,

a message that 

was being erased 

by the steady flow

The writing was in Spanish

and the remaining words

that I could read said

...El sol, la luna y las estrellas, 

la atadura de los años,

esto nos mantendrá firmes...

...which I translated to say

...the Sun, the moon and the stars,

the binding of the years,

these are what hold us steady...

It is my estimation

that this was from a 

diary of a wanderer,

a sojourner and stranger

holding steady to the path in front of her,

the stream, rolling alongside her,

and the stars above her

I believe that she 

was speaking of a 

promised land

one better than older

promised lands

and more sure.

I added my own words to the water

and walked on.