Let Rivers be Rivers

A full two and a half hours passes before I pause, paddling upstream in the big river with thoughts coming and going as they always do when I am in motion.  All of those thoughts flow through me like water in a stream.  Sometimes it is best just to let rivers be rivers.  And, the thoughts become secrets, each of them dispersing and blending with the others until none of it can be remembered.

And then, something happens that reminds me of what "it" is all about.  An osprey, unseen until now, drops down and passes close over me flying ahead to a new perch where it might eat the fish in its talons in peace.

I stop to write.

This is far enough.  I turn and start back down.  Once again, the osprey overtakes me and goes for a perch up ahead, but something the size of a sparrow chases it away.