near roubaix lake

near roubaix lake

they've made a new stream

the early snow has filled

this footbridge barely supports

my weight above the runoff

ten inch PVC hastily

placed releases water

from the makeshift dam

of mud and sticks

to rot the roots

of newly flooded chokecherry shrubs

they will die now

and fall over next spring

or early summer

brown, leafless

chokecherryless

we are running

you and I

into new course ways spilling into

low places killing what once grew

and just maybe, with time

we will find what there is to water

that needs watering,

how to silt fertile

this strange Dakota soil

further down, cattle graze

oblivious on rich grass stopping

only to drink

where otherwise

they would have gone thirsty

but winter is coming

in the gray clouds

the sun barely a warm spot,

the time when everything

shuts down

into soundless white

It would be simple

to wait it out

hope for a renewed warmth

to pry us into usefulness—

if only love were a thing

that flowed downhill