WATERFALLS by TLC. Poem by Michael Leach.

Ku-ring-gai Country, 29 October 2023
 

As we bushwalk, I reflect on this first-timer’s fall

for this woman whose mind & hair shine like waterfalls.
 

We help each other climb through a gully of boulders,

deeply hoping we won’t hear a single boulder fall.
 

I don’t do my best impression of Indiana

Jones as I stumble and, failing to recover, fall.
 

She does an impressive impression of Marion

Ravenwood; I watch her move nimbly and never fall.
 

As shadows lengthen, we lose sight of the subtle signs

marking this perilous route to the waterfall.
 

Feeling lost, we laugh in fear’s face and sing words first sung

by TLC: words warning ’gainst pursuing waterfalls.
 

She stops atop a boulder to tear a latched leech off

my shin, even though doing so nearly makes her fall.
 

Suddenly, we hear that blessed burbling up ahead.

We press on, hand in hand, anxious to watch water fall.
 

As daylight dims, we see a sacred sight through gum trees:

the misty, glistening torrents of a waterfall.
 
 

Stereo Story #780