Where Two Rivers Meet

Past the far side of town, over a hill that no one climbs and behind the fences no one jumps is a sight that no one sees. Sidled amid the cracks of the foothills is a place where two rivers meet, a place where east and west reconcile to head north. All around are trees fed by the rivers' conference, bringing spring's leafy green and autumn's fire to the green and rolling hills that surround the place. Although secluded, there may be seen the remnants of brief visitors to this small wonder of topography. A blanket sits beneath an oak that bears the initials of those who once sat beneath its boughs, a polaroid picture of an embarrassed girlfriend reaching out to grab the camera, and a worn-in set of parallel paths just far enough apart for two to join hands and stroll to the water's edge. In fact, the whole scene seems as though it was once the stage of a real and enduring love - you can feel it in the way the wind lingers in the clearing and gently tosses the leaves of the lovers' tree. If you follow the paths you'll find that as they near the water they merge into one, slightly wider than either but narrower than their sum. The path ends directly between the currents from east and west, but where one might expect a flurry of colliding force there is just a glass-smooth gentle twist. The surface of the water looks as though it might burst if penetrated, its glistening surface writhing like a water balloon stretched over a spigot. You can sit in this spot and listen to the roar of whitewater on your right and on your left and in front of you, and you get the eery feeling that your presence there wasn't your own decision but that of the mighty rivers. The waters from east and west meet and swirl before in placid union they sweep on to the North, like two restless hearts finding peace and direction only when they've collided. To leave this place is no easy thing, it calls to those who are an east without a west and have yet to find north, to those who have forgotten how rare a thing it is to find peace, to those who love the sound of a river or two.