Come to the Water – a poem by Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan

Come to the Water

On a rainy morning in July,
clouds hung low over the forest 
of spruce and birch trees.
I sat on a log watching and listening
as a clear-water tributary tumbled 
over boulders into the main 
channel of the Nenana River.

I thought how nice it would be to see
a moose or bear amble to shore,
perhaps a lynx. It was early enough 
in the day and we were in wild enough country.
But that was not what came.

I can’t be sure if it arrived on the light
patter of raindrops or on the whisper of a breeze,
but like a mirage, a deep sense of 
Soul not so much appeared, as materialized, 
a creature so elusive, I can count the
number of times I’ve encountered it.

“This is you.”

I grew still as the marrow
of a tree, life surging up from the roots. 
No longer a separate observer of
river, rain, or forest, I was those things. 
Quiet elation, I held my breath in
wonder of wild beings willing
to show themselves, trusting 
if only for a moment, the 
largeness of Love. 

Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan is an author who lives in Alaska. She has published six books of non-fiction, completed a historical novel, and writes poetry when the soul calls for such. Two of her poems were recently accepted for the anthology Alaska Literary Field Guide. Her essay “Crossing the Wild River” appears in Deep Wild Journal: Writing from the Backcountry 2024.